The Nets’ defensive flaws were fully visible in the loss to Hawks

The defense was almost as bad as it had been two days earlier – but this time there was no searing offense or comeback in the fourth quarter to bail out the Nets.

Or to hide the Achilles heel.

The Nets took one off the Hawks’ collective chin, a 114-96 loss to the Barclays Center on Friday night that put all of their flaws in plain sight.

“We didn’t shoot the ball well, but we didn’t do a lot of other things well,” said coach Steve Nash. “It’s early and we need more time to dig into the concepts, but on both sides of the ball we need a lot of cleaning up. Although we are frustrated, we have to stick to it. “

There was a lot to clean up after this one.

Of course, Kevin Durant was his usual stellar, with 28 points and eight rebounds. But although Kyrie Irving finished with 18 points and 11 rebounds, he suffered from a poor shooting night: 6 for 21 overall and 2 for 11 on 3 points.

Joe Harris was the only other double-digit goalscorer for the Nets, who only hit 7 for 37 from depth. More worryingly, they never found a way to defeat the Hawks.

“We thank them for keeping the ball in their hands and for finding something that works in our defense,” Durant said. “They stayed in that pick-and-roll all night and were able to keep the ball in their hands and get a good shot every time.

“We can’t just rely on shooting. Jeff Green said that in the locker room and I totally agree. We’re going to have days when the guys won’t hit, but we have to hang our hat on the defensive end. … All the teams in the world are saying it. It’s easier said than done. But if we stay aware of this, we will improve.

De’Andre Hunter (23 points), Trae Young (21 points, seven assists) and John Collins (20 points, eight tables) led six double-digit players for Atlanta, which shot 46.2% overall and 16 for 39 behind the arch.

“We just strayed from our principles,” said Green, who joined Durant, Irving and Nash in speaking in the locker room. “We allowed them to space us out, which allowed them to enter the route a lot. We avoided helping each other, being in the paint and being aware of the staff. It escaped us.

“It was nothing special. It was just that we had to stay together and on nights like this we have to come together and focus on our defense.

Despite a poor start, the Nets sort of trailed just 29-27 with 11:06 to go in the first half. But they gave up a 19-5 run as their defense was picked apart by Clint Capela. He had three dunks on the push and his tip-in with 7:42 left put the Nets in a 48-32 hole.

The Nets (3-3) went into the locker room by nine, and Irving’s 3-pointer to open the half cut the deficit to 61-55. But the momentum was short-lived.

Hanging on to hope with just a 74-68 deficit after a Harris 3 corner, the Nets were outscored 15-5 in the final 5:51 of the third quarter.

The Nets fell 19 behind a Brandon Goodwin 3, and the deficit swelled to 97-77 on Kevin Huerter’s 3 with 8:33 to go. It was a sad defensive display, which veterans spoke about in the locker room.

“It sticks more because your ears are more open because you are thinking about what just happened,” Green said. “So the message had to be said – coming from whether it was me, Kyrie when he spoke, Coach Nash, Kev. We all intervened. We all realized what was wrong.

“That’s the best part: we understand what we need to do to accomplish what we want.”

Harris recognized it.

“He was well received because what he said was 100% correct,” Harris said. “We know what we need to clean up and we need to be a little healthier on the defensive end, because offensively we won’t have any problems there. A big part of it is going to be that we are strengthening certain things defensively.