Kyrie Irving sits down as Nets lose 3rd straight without Kevin Durant

SAN ANTONIO — Through the brief absence of Kevin Durant, the Nets have made one thing clear as a team — their franchise-star-less stint this year will be nothing compared to a year ago.

Kyrie Irving was the first to mention it after Sunday’s loss to Oklahoma City.

“I’m consistently in the lineup, and that helps,” Irving said. “Also, there are no half-hearted people in the locker room, and the focus here is mostly on the big picture.”

After losing to the Spurs on Tuesday, it was Nick Claxton’s turn.

“Last year was… kind of a toxic environment,” said Claxton. “At the time, I wasn’t sure if anyone wanted to be here. , without KD and Kyrie on the court, we have to figure out how to play each other.

Irving’s comments carry a bit of irony given his part-time status when he lost 21 games to Durant’s MCL sprain last season. The Nets are 5-16 without him. Irving also missed Tuesday with a sore right calf, but head coach Jack Vaughan hopes to play for Phoenix on Thursday.

Still, Claxton’s words were the latest attempt to rally James Harden for the Nets. not.

Spurs’ Keldon Johnson faces Nets’ TJ Warren in San Antonio on Tuesday. (Darren Abate/Associated Press)

Ben Simmons’ first triple-double as a net wasn’t enough as the Nets went 3-for-23 in their second straight game against a non-playoff team after losing to Boston on Thursday. Vaughn had mixed results from playing against the Spurs against all active players and a group of veterans facing a young San Antonio team.

“You can’t put points on the board just by looking at the scores in the first and third quarters. We had some good shots along the way, but they didn’t work out,” Vaughan said. And it’s part of basketball, but I think what we can deal with is turnovers and rebounds, and it’s about keeping things simple to make turnovers wise, attack someone and get off the board. It’s a matter of keeping away.”

The Nets were quickly trailed by 14 points, but tied at 51 by halftime thanks to 17-5 runs from TJ Warren and Edmund Sumner. Warren finished with his 19 points and Sumner added his 13 points. But for all of Simmons’ assists (11) and rebounds (10), perhaps his most important stat that night was his fouls. With 7:47 left in the third quarter, with the game tied at 58, Simmons picked up his fourth foul. The Spurs quickly rattled off a 6-0 run, benching his guard for 6-10 points. The Nets never took the lead again.

“I think it was kind of like the last few games where a team ran away and couldn’t fight back,” Claxton said. “And we had to do a better job of weathering the storm and coming back out of it. I think…it’s not the end of the world.”

When Brooklyn was 12-1 with a healthy roster in December, the Nets had a league-leading offense and a top 10 defense. In his first three games without his player in the franchise, the Nets offense ranked lowest in the league with a 99 rating, while the defense fell just short of the top spot.

Durant is invaluable as a player, but the roster is good enough to avoid a top-to-bottom dropoff. Vaughan has asked the Nets to use his star players off the court to make more of his 3 shots, but his number of shots in San Antonio was only 24, most of them open to his looks. Missed. Joe Harris was scoreless in his 17 minutes with just three shots.

On defense, the Nets held the Spurs’ shooting percentage to 38% and 3-shooting percentage to 21%. Irving’s absence was missed as the Spurs had an alpha dog on a night the Nets didn’t, and Keldon-Johnson scored his career-high 36 points to lead the team.

Vaughan has been cautious on Warren’s minutes all season to protect him for the playoffs, playing just 24 minutes with him despite shooting 7-of-13. bottom. Warren, who has battled a leg injury for the past two years, may not play back-to-back Friday games due to precautionary measures, creating a domino effect that makes balance difficult.

“I think we put him in a big run,” Vaughan said of Warren. A five to six minute stint.He did a long run on the board to score some points.I think we keep giving the players minutes across the board.What happens? It’s because it cuts out someone else’s, look at Yuta’s minutes, he didn’t hit that, so next thing you know, he’s closing the hole from all sides. .”

Brooklyn is now eyeing Phoenix. He’s 12th in the Western Conference standings, and Chris He doesn’t have his own stars in Paul and Devin Booker, which could give the Nets another chance to win. They will then face Utah, Golden State, and Philadelphia. Three playoff teams with key players healthy.

A year ago, Vaughan was an assistant under Steve Nash when the team lost 11 straight games without Durant. The 6-10 forward later said he lost faith in his organization in the stretch. The team realized they couldn’t compete without his glare, so it was factored into his trade request. A year later, in the same situation, the Nets gave Durant no reason to think otherwise.

“No excuses,” Vaughn said. “It’s for me and I’m going to keep preaching it to the group. I’m not looking for excuses. That’s exactly who we are. We get the chance to play the game and you compete.” I got a chance today I had enough body to get the job done I ran through everyone so everyone had a chance to be part of it and be part of the win and be part of the defeat So I don’t make excuses for the group.I don’t care about last year.I care about now.Today was the most important game.Now I’m trying to reload and prepare for Phoenix. But I’m not going to give them a chance to make excuses.”

The Nets keep saying this stretch without Durant will end differently than last year. No start without him so far.

(Top photo of Nets’ Ben Simmons facing Spurs’ Jeremy Sawchan: Darren Abate/Associated Press)