AUBURN HILLS – Quick, think of the Nets’ style. You thought of racehorse-like fastbreaks, senses-rattling alley-oop dunks. Exciting, quick, entertaining.

Well, the Nets are hoping to show their style, if necessary, can be tractor-pull set ups, full 24-second possessions. Methodical, grinding, systematic.

They showed they can win that way against Washington. They came here expecting more of the same against the Pistons last night.

“The Pistons pride themselves on defense and we have to try to force our tempo and our will,” Jason Kidd said as the Nets prepared to play one of the few teams that won the season series (3-1) against them last season. “They can score some points when they get going, but they don’t want it in the 100’s. They want it in the 80’s. We can win a halfcourt game and we can win an ugly game.”

The Wizards went at the Nets with a slow, deliberate style Friday. The result was an all-time franchise-low point production, both scored by the Wizards and yielded by the Nets in a 79-65 sleeper. But that game supported the Nets’ contention that they can play virtually any style. And the Nets felt well prepped for the Pistons, thanks to the Wizards.

“We proved [against Washington] we can win that slow, grind-it-out game,” said Richard Jefferson. “Luckily, with our schedule, that worked out perfect. You start going with Washington, that slow, grind-it-out and then go up against better a team in Detroit that plays the exact same way, so it was a little tune-up.”

But Pistons coach Rick Carlisle insisted his Detroit gang is not the master of “slooooow ball,” despite taking the fewest shots (73.9) of any team in the league. Nope, they just value possessions. Oh, the Pistons will run when the opportunity affords itself. But Carlisle said, the Pistons – who visit New Jersey on Saturday – are not the type of team that wants to get into a run-and-gun game with the Nets. Detroit just looks at itself as a defense-first type of team.

“We have to find a style that gives us a chance to win and the biggest case that can be made for defending people is in our wins this year we’re giving up an average of about 77 points and in our losses we’re giving up about 96 and a half,” Carlisle, the reigning “Coach of the Year,” said. “That’s pretty strong evidence that we have to play a certain way.”

Yeah, slow.

“No, we look to run. It’s not like we don’t look to run but we have to get stops and get the ball before we run,” Carlisle said. “We don’t want to trade shots with the Nets. That would be trouble for us. They thrive in that situation and that’s not our game … which is to work the ball on possessions, get good shots and try to get back defensively because transition is where the Nets really get you because they have the best transition point guard in the game.”

The Nets don’t try to hide their preference one bit. The Nets and Byron Scott want to run all the time. From start to finish, from preseason to postseason.

“You still have some people who are very skeptical about the way we play.” Scott said.