He should rest but he won’t. He should accept the reality but he can’t. So the Nets’ Stephon Marbury intends on dragging his aching left knee through the remainder of the season which can result in the playoffs only in the wildest “if this, then that but only if” equations where everything must go just right.

And so yesterday, one day after admitting his left knee at one point “felt like a million pins were inside,” Marbury was given a different anti-inflammatory medication and was back working out, claiming to feel better and preparing for the final 10 games of a lost season, a stretch that begins today against Detroit at the Meadowlands.

“He’d probably have to come out with a cast on before he wouldn’t play,” said Don Casey, whose Nets realistically may have breathed their last playoff hopeful breath when they succumbed to the Magic, 103-97, in Orlando Friday night as they tumbled 5½ games behind the final post- season spot with 10 to play.

“It’s tendinitis. It’s been bothering me, but it wasn’t as bad as (Friday). I was able to play the same way but that was hard. I wasn’t going to sit out,” said Marbury who lists playing 82 games as one of his individual goals.

But with the cold reality of a trip to the lottery and not the playoffs staring the Nets in the face and the knowledge that rest is the ultimate cure for Marbury, it would seem prudent to provide more rest for the team’s top scorer. And Casey said even if the Nets were right in the thick of the fight, any push to the playoffs “would be not at his expense.”

Marbury has been in a shooting slump for several weeks. He has not shot 50 percent in any game for the last 12 games, going 75-of-193 (.389) in that slump. Still, the Nets were able to hang in the hunt. Marbury pointed at himself as the cause for the sting defeat in Orlando.

“Me not being able to penetrate and create for others definitely hurt,” said Marbury, who shot 2-of-12 with a Net low seven points (“I haven’t seen him play like that all year,” Kerry Kittles offered) in Orlando. “Guys played as hard as they could and everyone played to the best of their abilities. I just wasn’t able to hold up my end. But Sunday will be a different story. I’ll be in a lot better shape.”

Teammates acknowledged Marbury was not himself Friday night. He didn’t explode to the basket, for openers.

“It was very obvious. I could see it in his quickness,” said Kendall Gill. “Stephon normally explodes to the hole 10, 12 times a game. He did it maybe once. You could tell it was bothering him.”

Marbury and Johnny Newman are the only Nets to have appeared in all 72 games this season. While he would like to keep that streak intact, it means absolutely nothing compared to the long-range risk being run if Marbury tries to play through the pain.

“I don’t want anything to happen to him because he’s too valuable to the franchise,” Casey said of Marbury. “He’s too good of a soldier, too good of a warrior. But he didn’t even want to come out. It’s a tendinitis condition. It’s inflamed. He doesn’t get a chance to rest.”

Even if he could, he probably wouldn’t. Marbury refuses to concede anything. Tell him the Nets have a near-impossible task, he turns around and says the Magic have a tougher scheduled remaining.

“I’m going to be OK. I’ve got a little tendinitis. I definitely am going to finish out the season, finish strong,” Marbury insisted. “Our season is not over yet and the playoffs is still something we’re shooting for. Orlando has to play some tough teams and they still have to win.

“Some days, it hurts more than others. I know my body. I know I never felt pain like that as far as from tendinitis,” Marbury said. “I tore my ankle in three places. I had a deep contusion in my thigh. I know what pain feels like. I don’t like to complain. This is a sport where you’re going to feel pain. You’re going to hurt, but I can’t lie.”