The Nets were supposed to be the worst team in basketball, tabbed to win a league-low 19 games by the experts.

They reached that before even hitting the All-Star break after smothering the Hornets 97-89 before 16,013 at Barclays Center.

It was a measure of disrespect that coach Jordi Fernandez used as bulletin board material at the start of the season, and they’re still using it as fodder.

“No doubt,” Trendon Watford said. “We remember when that list came out. We definitely every time — I’m not going to tell you what we say every time we break it down after a win — but we definitely keep that in the back of our heads, how they doubted us. And now, with one more game left before the break, we’re already past what they had us at, so shout out to the experts.”

The Nets (19-34) have had the best defense in the league over the past two weeks, leading the NBA in defensive rating (103.6), field goal defense (40.8), field goals allowed (34.7) and blocks (7.8).

They’ve taken five of their last six on the way to matching their projected win total ahead of hosting the fading 76ers on Wednesday before the break.

“We’re aware of it; 19 games, so we need one more. We need a lot more,” Nic Claxton said. “You always want to overachieve, and you can’t worry about outside noise. We knew we could win more games than that, and that was disrespectful. So we’ve just got to keep building.”

The Nets allowed just 41 percent shooting and 6 of 31 from deep.

Claxton had 16 points, two blocks and two steals, while Day’Ron Sharpe added 14 points and nine rebounds.

The Nets led by as much as 22 and, after Charlotte star LeMelo Ball left with a sore right ankle, were never challenged.

They surrendered an 8-0 run to trail 15-9 early on.

But still down by four, they responded with a 9-1 run. Tosan Evbuomwan’s floater put them up 30-26 with a minute left in the first.

The Nets reeled off nine unanswered in a 1 ½-minute blitz early in the second, with Keon Johnson’s 3 making it 47-36 with 7:23 to play in the half.

D’Angelo Russell’s free throw capped a 21-8 run to make it 59-44 with 2:21 in the third. They padded it to 22 and never looked back.

Watford finished with 13 points and was a game-high, plus-26.

“We all saw they had us projected to win 19 games. We all felt the same way that Jordi felt. … We came together like, ‘We all feel that way.’ But we’re right at 19, so we still got to get past it,” Sharpe said.

“When the odds are against you, try to be a competitor and respond,” Fernandez said. “The guys have done a great job.”

After NetsDaily reported the Nets should receive enough from Ben Simmons’ buyout for a prorated minimum, now Spotrac has confirmed he gave back nearly $1.1 million.

They now are $1.7 million under the luxury tax threshold.