Reshuffled, depleted Nets no match for Bulls in third straight loss

CHICAGO — The injuries are mounting, as are the losses.

The decimated Nets were blown out, 128-102, by Chicago before 19,131 at United Center, a second-half capitulation that had coach Jordi Fernandez steamed.

“Losing a second half by 20, it’s not good enough. We have higher standards, the way we work, the way we play, the way we compete. And this was not good,” Fernandez said. “They scored 56 in the first half, and they scored 72 in the second half. So our defense was extremely bad. And our players know that our ball pressure has to be better, our competitiveness, our communication.

“In that second Orlando game, the first half of this game, I give the guys credit. You can lose, but that’s how you lose, and I was proud of them. This second half, this is not who we want to be. This is not our identity. It was pretty poor.”

The Nets (9-13) ran their losing skid to three games, tying a season high.

They allowed .578 shooting from the field in a second half that saw them outscored, 72-52. They let the Bulls hit 14 of 21 in the third quarter alone when they were blitzed, 36-22, and never responded.

“They put us in the hole. And we didn’t fight back from it,” Nic Claxton said. “The way we lost — to be down by six at halftime and to come out and lose by as much as we did in the second half — is unacceptable.”

Like the losing streak, the injury list also matched the Nets’ worst of the season.

They had eight men out, including starters Cam Thomas, Dorian Finney-Smith, Ben Simmons and now Cam Johnson, a late scratch with a sprained left ankle.

But there are no alibis asked for or given under Fernandez.

“I’m going to go into every game believing that we have a chance to win,” Fernandez said. “I don’t care who’s playing. If they wear a Nets uniform, I’m going to go out there and believe that we’re going to fight, compete and we’re going to have a chance.

“Now, if we do like the other day where we play a very good team and we fight, compete and we end up losing the game, I’ll tell them I’m proud of them. But [Monday]that second half defense and overall second half, it cannot happen. I don’t care [about] the back-to-back, I don’t care [about] the injuries. Guys with our uniform have to be better.”

Claxton and Dennis Schroder were the only regular starters available. Keon Johnson received his first start as a Net as Fernandez used a different lineup for the eighth straight game.

But Schroder’s crisp 16-point, 10-assist, zero-turnover night couldn’t help.

Neither could the season debut of Day’Ron Sharpe, returning from a training-camp injury. Nor even could an eye-opening performance from Dariq Whitehead, who had 18 points in just his fifth NBA outing.

After losing most of his rookie season to injury, Whitehead hit 6 of 10 from deep off the bench. He’s the youngest player in Nets history (20 years, 123 days) to make six 3-pointers in a game, and the second-youngest in the league this season (behind only top overall pick Zaccharie Risacher at 19 years, 212 days).

“[Recent G-League success] just brought back confidence that I’ve been missing for two years in dealing with the injuries, just not believing in myself … [after] not doing anything in the past two years,” Whitehead said. “So I feel like that was just a huge step for me.

“We fought for 24 minutes. I don’t think we fought for 48 minutes. … So I feel like in that second half we’ve just got to do a better job of fighting and finishing games.”

This game got out of hand. Clinging to a 42-37 second-quarter lead after a 3 from Shake Milton, Brooklyn surrendered an extended 28-10 run that spanned the half.

By the time Nikola Vucevic (21 points, 10 rebounds) capped the run with a 3, the Nets found themselves down 65-52 with 10:18 left in the third quarter.

The rest was garbage time. The deficit swelled to 29 in the fourth.

“We can’t make no excuses,” Claxton said. “That’s the league. It’s a next guy up type of league. So it’s back-to-back, different rotations, but our energy still needs to be at a certain level for us to win any type of game.”