DENVER – The Nets headed west with a 7-2 record and a perch atop the Atlantic Division, 1½ games ahead of second-place Boston.

And they weren’t overly happy about it. Yes, times have changed.

Instead of reveling in complete bliss and sacrificing a goat or two to the basketball gods, the Nets had a chip on their shoulders from a 94-82 defeat administered by the Sixers in the Meadowlands Saturday. That defeat ended a five-game winning streak, reminded the Nets that there still is work to be done before they are admitted to elite team circles and cast a bit of a damper on their spirits.

“If we expect to be in the same company with the Philadelphias and the Milwaukees, we have to bring it every single night,” said coach Byron Scott, who was a little disturbed at his team’s lack of energy and admitted the defeat left “a little bit” of a sour taste. “We would have loved to go on the trip with a six-game winning streak so how do we bounce back?”

Well, they’ll begin finding out tonight against the Nuggets here where the Nets have an all-time re- cord of 4-24. After Denver, the Nets travel to Utah where they’re 3-18 all-time. After that, it’s a California tour with visits to the Clippers, Kings and Warriors. All are tough, but all are beatable and the Nets expect to do their share of winning.

“My number is to be over .500. That’s my number. I hope we can accomplish that. I really think we can,” Scott said.

“We’ve just got to go out and take care of business. We can’t come back here with a losing record for the five games,” Kenyon Martin said.

And there is a difference in these Nets. They really believe they can take three of five on the trip. Forget that East Coast teams traditionally have trouble in the West. Jason Kidd insists that these Nets are a different breed.

“This is a different East Coast team. Everybody’s from the West Coast,” said Kidd, who endured a scoreless, 0-of-9 effort against Philly but still had 12 assists and nine rebounds. “Everybody will have lots of tickets so we’ll have to bring our ‘A’ game. Our game is suited for the West. We like to get out and run. This will be fun for us to go against the West. Let’s see where we’re at. The good teams limit losing streaks to one or two games and bounce back.”

Center Todd MacCulloch also sees the trip as a chance for the Nets to make a statement not just for themselves but also for the conference.

“Not so much this year, but last year everyone talked about how weak the East is, how they can’t compete with the West. So definitely there’s a lot to prove for pride in this conference,” MacCulloch said. “We want to be on top of this conference and we want this conference to be on top of the West. We’ve got most of our guys healthy so I don’t see any reason why we can’t do some damage out there.”

And if they don’t, these new-style Nets will come home more ticked off than they left.