Nets saw many issues rise to surface in blowout loss to Celtics

Mikal Bridges usually has few words after a loss, but that wasn’t the case Wednesday after the Nets’ listless 50-point loss to the Celtics in Boston.

Issues with the offense, effort and defense have followed the Nets all season, but it crystallized in the worst loss of the team’s Brooklyn era. It wasn’t hard to see why Bridges said “a lot of [expletive] isn’t right” and needs to be fixed.

“I think the effort, we control that. I mean, that’s the biggest part,” he said. “Whatever the game plan was, I think we have to do that with effort. And we didn’t have that, especially at the beginning.

“Then offensively . . . if we don’t know what we’re doing offensively, then the offense looks bad. And now they’re getting out in transition and now they’re gonna keep scoring . . . you guys watched the game. You’re probably sitting there like ‘what the hell is going on?’ So it’s tough.”

That sums up the Nets’ spiral during the last two months entering the All-Star break. Most betting sites had them winning 37 to 40 games, but at 21-33, they’re on pace to be well short of that prediction.

Two things affected this season more than anything: Ben Simmons’ back injury and the Dec. 27 loss to the Bucks in which most of the rotation players didn’t play or were pulled after the first quarter.

Simmons has played only 12 games and the Nets are 6-6 in those contests. He makes the Nets’ offense faster and more efficient, and his return brings hope for the rest of the season. Without him, the Nets look lost even though Bridges and Cam Thomas are averaging career highs in scoring.

“It’s like, you got Philly with Joel [Embiid],” Bridges said. “When he’s not playing, you don’t play the same style. We just got to know how we play [without Simmons] and stuff like that.”

Since Dec. 27, the Nets are 6-18. Only the Wizards, at 4-21, have fewer victories — and one of those wins came against the Nets on Dec. 29. The three-point shooting has regressed. The defensive progress from January is a memory; the Nets gave up 136 points Wednesday for the second time in two weeks.

It’s obvious the Nets don’t have the personnel to match up well with elite or above-average teams. There still are chemistry and communication issues along with getting used to Dennis Schroder, who just arrived last week.

Despite all that, the play-in tournament is still in play. They’re 2 1⁄2 games behind the Hawks for the final spot, but given their struggles, even that’s an uphill climb.

“I do believe this team can do the work,” coach Jacque Vaughn said Wednesday. “So use this as a reminder. We got our tails kicked tonight, and after the break, it won’t be any easier. But we have to be up for the challenge.”

As Bridges noted, a lot has gone wrong. The Nets must figure out how to fix, or at least mitigate, those issues after the break or else Wednesday’s collapse will mark another point when the season was lost.

By Evan Barnes

evan.barnes@newsday.comevan_b

Evan Barnes covers the Giants for Newsday. He previously covered the Brooklyn Nets, Memphis football and the Memphis Grizzlies and also covered prep sports in Los Angeles.