NEW YORK — The Nets keep saying they are a better team this season without Kevin Durant than they were last season without Kevin Durant.
The Nets maintain they are deeper, more versatile and play better defense. They say there is some hope that they won’t collapse like they did last year when they went 5-17 and suffered an 11-game losing streak without him.
But the Nets haven't proved that yet. They remained winless since Durant was diagnosed with a sprained right MCL, falling 112-102 Sunday to a young Oklahoma City team.
Durant wasn’t the only key player the Nets were missing. Ben Simmons, who was suffering from a sore back, was a last-minute scratch.
The Nets missed Simmons the most on defense. The team allowed 24 points during a six-minute stretch in the four quarter as Oklahoma City outscored them, 37-22, in the fourth.
Josh Giddey and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander both scored 28 points and Luguentz Dort added 22 for the Thunder.
Seth Curry led the Nets with 23 points and Nic Claxton added 17. Kyrie Irving, who was basically double teamed the entire game, scored 15 points and went 1-for-7 from three-point range. Joe Harris scored just eight points and missed three straight three-pointers in the fourth quarter when the Nets were attempting to get back in the game.
“At the end of the season, no one cares how many games Kevin missed,” Joe Harris said Saturday referring to the fact that only the team’s record matters. “We have to be able to figure this thing out. We know we’re not the same team with Kevin out, but we can still be a competitive group.”
That has been coach Jacque Vaughn’s manta since Durant when sprained his MCL in Miami last Sunday.
“No built-in excuses,” Vaughn before the game. “You show up, you do your job and you do it to the best of your ability. Then, you reload and do it the next day.”
The Nets, who were able to squeeze out a win in Miami after Durant went down, were overpowered late in their first full-game without him, losing to the league-leading Boston Celtics, 109-98.
In both the Boston and Oklahoma City game, the Nets fell apart in the fourth quarter.
After a rough start to begin the season, the Thunder have been playing well enough to be in the playoff hunt, and entered Sunday’s game in 12th place in the Western Conference, just a half-game behind the No. 9 seed.
Oklahoma City had won four of its last five, including straight wins against Philadelphia and the Chicago Bulls entering Sunday’s game.
“They’re an impressive young team,” Vaughn said.
Both teams seemed to be feeling each other out in the first half as there were 13 lead changes and neither team led by more than eight points. A 9-2 run in the middle of the third quarter gave the Nets a 10-point lead, their first double-digit lead of the game.
NOTES AND QUOTES: The Nets are still deciding whether Durant will join the team on their five-game road trip that begins Tuesday in San Antonio. “We’ll see how far along he and whether it’s smart for him to travel,” Vaughn said. “Priority No. 1 is getting him back to playing as soon as possible.”
