It could have been worse.
The Nets could have left Friday’s 131-87 blowout loss to the Chicago Bulls owners of the fewest points scored in a game this season.
Instead, they left owners of the fewest points scored in a half all year.
The Nets scored just 29 points in the first half behind an offense that sputtered from start to finish.
It was a legendarily poor performance for the Nets, who played in their first game after a 10-day layoff for NBA All-Star Weekend.
The Nets looked like they were still on vacation. The Bulls were ready to roll.
Thanks to Cam Thomas and Seth Curry, the Nets gunned their way out of even further embarrassment. The 1964-65 Chicago Bulls hold the fewest points scored in a game in NBA history at just 49, a mark the Nets didn’t reach until the fourth quarter.
Curry (19 points) and Thomas (22) lit it up in garbage time combining for 41 points off the bench. Those two alone outscored the entire Nets starting lineup.
And it was a microcosm of the larger issue at hand for a Nets team attempting to salvage the season after trading superstar scorers Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving at the NBA’s trade deadlines.
Without those superstar scorers, offense came sparingly against a Bulls team holding the Eastern Conference’s No. 11 seed.
Mikal Bridges, the highlight of the Durant package, shot 4 of 10 from the field for 13 points. Bridges will be highlighted in Jacque Vaughn’s offense: He scored a career-high 45 points against the Miami Heat entering the All-Star break — but also shot just 2 of 8 from the field for seven points in Brooklyn’s one-sided loss to the Knicks at Madison Square Garden.
Cam Johnson, another player the Nets received in the Durant deal, shot 2 of 8 from downtown and 4 of 13 from the field for 10 points.
Spencer Dinwiddie, the ex-Nets point guard the team recouped in the Irving deal with the Mavericks, missed all six of his field goals and finished with just two points.
And Dorian Finney-Smith missed all five of his 3s and finished with just two points.
Friday night was not a positive step toward building chemistry, but it was a game the Nets will need to flush quickly if they hope to retain their status as a playoff team.
The Nets entered the second half of the season owners of the seventh-toughest remaining schedule in all of basketball. They will travel to Atlanta for a 3 p.m. tipoff against the Hawks on Sunday, then host the second-seeded Milwaukee Bucks at Barclays Center on Tuesday.
