EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. ? The New Jersey Nets are playing so well, they can hit a big shot even when there’s no game.

The latest hero is backup guard Anthony Johnson, who gave his teammates the day off by banking in a shot from halfcourt Friday at the Nets’ practice gym.

“I didn’t call it, but I’ll take it. It’s cool to have a day off,” Johnson said. “I was hot last night. I had a feeling I would knock it down.”

Coach Byron Scott said if any player made the shot, practice would be canceled. There were only three players left in line when Johnson hit pay dirt, and he led the team off the court with arms raised in celebration — although all of them returned later to do some light shooting on their own.

“Today is not a grind-out day,” Scott said. “Today you want to be relaxed. You just want to have some fun. I just try to break up the monotony. Things are going good now.”

Good indeed. The Nets are in rarified air, having won nine straight playoff games. It’s the fourth-longest single-season playoff streak in NBA history, tied with the 1996 Bulls and 1982 Lakers.

The Nets can make it 10 in a row tonight, when they try to complete a sweep of the Detroit Pistons in the Eastern Conference finals. The record is 12 by the 1999 Spurs, a mark that until recently seemed safe from the franchise in the Meadowlands.

“We’ve been kicked around so much in this league for so many years here, this is a good chance to kick somebody else around,” guard Lucious Harris said. “So when you have a team down, you’ve got to try to bury them and get it over with.”

The Pistons, meanwhile, are literally and figuratively in another state. Coach Rick Carlisle and his team worked out at college in Manhattan, trying to find a way to convince a dispirited team that it can become the first in history to rally from 3-0 down to win a series.

“We’re down, but we’re not out,” Carlisle said.