MEMPHIS, Tenn. — After the entire Nets lineup rushed to pick up Kyrie Irving when his last-second shot missed in Wednesday’s opening loss, he spoke about how much it meant to him that his teammates had his back.

That was made even more clear in Friday’s win over the Knicks, when the Nets’ Taurean Prince got into a brief scuffle with Bobby Portis while protecting his point guard.

Irving drove and got knocked to the ground by Julius Randle. He fell to the court on his behind with the ball in his hands. Portis tried to wrest it away, pulling Irving off the ground several times until Prince sprinted over to try to pull the Knicks forward away from him. Players from both sides rushed in, with Prince and Portis both getting technicals.

“Things are going to happen in a basketball game, emotions are going to get the best of you,” Irving said. “Bobby Portis trying to take the ball away from me, I wasn’t going to let him take it. So Taurean came over and guys were about to step over on me. I appreciate that.

“Obviously you don’t want to put yourself in that position where the other team gets a free throw or anything like that. Just be smart. But when that warrants it — and the moment warranted him coming over — obviously you appreciate it.”

Jarrett Allen is expected to take another step forward in his third season, but so far he admits he’s struggling to an ice-cold start offensively.

“You know, I would say a little bit. I turned the ball over, and not making shots I need to, not being assertive like I need to,” Allen acknowledged. “It’s a mixture of both. I need to be assertive and I also need to calm down.”

Allen averaged 10.9 points last season on 59.0 percent shooting. But he’ll go into Sunday’s game against the Grizzlies having mustered just five points on 41.7 percent shooting.

And a career 72.5 percent free throw shooter, Allen is 0-for-4 from the charity stripe this season. Going to the line with 5 seconds left in regulation of a tied game, he missed both foul shots to send the Nets into overtime where they dropped Wednesday’s season opener.

Allen has at least been off to a better start on the boards. He’s averaging 10 rebounds, up from 5.4 and 8.4 his first two seasons. Part of that is the extra muscle he’s packed on — up to 243 pounds — and part is simply experience.

“I think it’s a mixture of both getting stronger and knowing the position,” Allen said. “DJ [DeAndre Jordan] was telling me a lot to do on the defensive end, getting rebounds, keeping everybody out the paint, so I think it’s a mixture of both.”