CLEVELAND – To be Kenyon Martin or not to be Kenyon Martin. That is the question facing the Nets and their second year forward.

But to Martin and Nets coach Byron Scott, there really is no question. Martin must be Martin, despite the risks – which include a two-game suspension for ANY subsequent flagrant foul this season, whether penalty one or the more serious penalty two.

“The biggest concern is that Kenyon won’t be Kenyon,” Scott said regarding Martin, who returns here against the Cavs tonight after his latest league suspension for a flagrant foul.

Martin, who now has been suspended a total of five games for five different flagrant fouls, insists he will play with all the high energy and enthusiasm that are the trademarks of his game. Do otherwise and “I might as well not play,” he said after practice yesterday.

And even though Scott worries that Martin wears “a bull’s-eye on the front of his chest, on the back of his jersey, too” in the eyes of the refs, Martin insists he will not back down. Oh, he’ll try to be smarter – a topic discussed at length with Scott – but he won’t simply stand around and take a beating. And the Nets know teams now will be looking to bait Martin.

“That’s a lock. Trust me. I ain’t never backed down from nobody and I ain’t going to start now. They hit me, I’m going to hit them back. That’s the way I’ve been raised,” Martin explained. “I’m not going to back down because I’m afraid of getting suspended and let somebody hit me. I’m not going to let it ride. Then they feel they can get away with it.”

With previous suspensions, the Nets brass seemed impatient with Martin – especially following his previous flagrant against Chicago when he admittedly landed a deliberate elbow. But for his most recent foul, assessed Friday against Miami, team president Rod Thorn and Scott both back Martin in his contention that: “I didn’t do anything this time. The last time they had a reason to be upset because I did it.”

Martin has seven penalty points and the two-gamers start at eight. The slate is erased for the playoffs, although a player is suspended on the fourth flagrant point in the postseason.

The Nets maintain a “double standard” exists and pointed to the lack of action against Alonzo Mourning who they felt swung, possibly throwing a punch, Friday.

“Nothing happened to him,” said Martin, admitting relief the Nets are 4-1 in his suspension games, including Sunday’s 87-76 victory in Memphis. “If you throw elbows for a certain amount of years and do all that crazy [stuff], I guess you get away with it.”

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Yesterday was a significant step for center Todd MacCulloch, who has missed 13 straight games and 14 of 15 because of plantar fasciitis in his left foot. “I ran on the court for the first time. I did some sprints, laps, slides, backpedaling, a lot of the movements you have to do in a basketball game,” said MacCulloch, who believes he’ll return before the playoffs. “It felt really good. I would say [there was] discomfort, but not really a whole lot of pain.”