The Nets don’t do moral victories.

But if Sunday (all times AEDT) was a measuring stick — the second night of a back-to-back, minus three starters against the league’s best team — there were positives to be taken.

Just not quite enough of them.

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The Nets ran out of gas late in a 124-114 loss to Boston before a sellout crowd of 17,983 at Barclays Centre, as usual with a healthy dose of Celtic green on hand.

Minus starters Ben Simmons, Nic Claxton and Cam Johnson, the Nets were down just 96-95 with 7:28 to play.

But that’s when Boston — the NBA’s championship favourite and only unbeaten team left this season — reeled off an 11-2 run to finally put Brooklyn away.

The absence of Simmons — whom the team insists was merely taking a prearranged night off to manage his well-documented back injury — was felt acutely.

With him went their prodigious fast break, and much of their offensive identity.

“I’m excited about seeing if we can continue conceptual basketball, how we want to play without [Simmons] being there,” coach Jacque Vaughn had said. “The other night we shot 45 3s, and a big part of that was Ben’s ability to, after makes and misses, push [the] tempo for us. So could our other guards do that as well will be a challenge for us.

“I’d love to shoot 45 more 3s if we could versus [the Celtics]. But I think you’ll definitely miss Ben’s ability to grab rebounds, start our break, guard multiple positions but hopefully conceptually, the way we play, someone else can slide into that slot.”

It didn’t happen.

Cam Thomas poured in a team-high 27 points, but the Nets hit just 43 per cent from the floor and 17 of 52 from deep, getting bogged down in the halfcourt by Boston.

Mikal Bridges had 19 but struggled through a 7-for-20 shooting night.

The Nets had run off at least 20 fast-break points in every single game this season, their longest such streak since the stat started being tracked back in 1996-97.

They came into the night averaging a league-high 23.4 fast-break points, but mustered just seven in the loss.

The Nets trailed early, down 24-15 after Jrue Holiday found Jaylen Brown (23 points) for a mid-range jumper.

But they closed the first quarter on a 19-10 run to even the score going into the second.

The Nets clawed ahead, with forward Dorian Finney-Smith — starting a fifth straight game at centre for injured starter Nic Claxton — hitting a 3-pointer off a Spencer Dinwiddie feed.

It gave the Nets a 41-36 edge with 9:43 left in the half. But it was short-lived.

A 9-0 Celtics blitz over the next two minutes left the Nets in a five-point hole, capped by a floater by Jayson Tatum (game-high 32 points).

The Nets were still down just 62-58 after a put back dunk by Day’Ron Sharpe with 1:10 left in the second quarter.

But they allowed the Celtics to score the last eight points of the half, capped by a Tatum 27-footer with just 0.3 seconds left.

The Nets trailed 70-58 at the break, and never led again.

They almost immediately made a run and climbed back into the game, but could never quite get over the hump.

Thomas’ hook shot made it 87-86 with 2:25 remaining in the third, but the Nets never could pull ahead.

Down 96-90, they pulled within one again on a 3-pointer by Dennis Smith Jr.

But Tatum responded with one of his own, sparking an 11-2 run.

Boston opened the lead to double digits and the game was over.

Simmons’ absence was pronounced, but the Nets almost immediately went to reassurance mode, comforting their fans that there was nothing amiss.

“The Ben piece is just injury maintenance for us,” Vaughn said. “Overall, just assessing where we are this time of the season, with the back-to-back — not saying this will continue — but the maintenance is a part of his progression right now for this part of the season.”

-This story was originally published by Brian Lewis in the NY Post and reproduced with permission

CHAMPS CRUISE AS LAKERS SMASHED

Defending champion Denver seized the Western Conference lead, improving to 6-1 by defeating Chicago 123-101.

Nikola Jokic had 28 points, 16 rebounds and nine assists to lead the host Nuggets while Michael Porter added 27 points and Aaron Gordon had 15 points and 12 rebounds for Denver.

German forward Franz Wagner scored 26 points and Paolo Banchero added 25 points and a career-high 10 assists to spark host Orlando over the Los Angeles Lakers 120-101.

“I’m feeling good,” Banchero said. “I’ve put in a lot of work. It was a long summer. I can’t be more happy than I am to be back.

“You can score the ball, make the plays but making others better is what I love to do,” he said of his 10 assists. “I went out there and tried to keep the defence honest.”

Anthony Davis had 28 points, 13 rebounds and seven blocked shots and LeBron James added 24 points, nine rebounds, five assists and three steals for the Lakers, who began a four-game road trip.

SIXERS ROLL PAST SUNS

Keeping pace one game behind the Celtics were the Philadelphia 76ers as Joel Embiid scored 26 points and grabbed 11 rebounds to lead the Sixers over visiting Phoenix 112-100.

Kelly Oubre added 25 points, Tobias Harris had 18 points and 10 rebounds and Tyrese Maxey contributed 22 points, and 10 assists on his 23rd birthday to spark the 76ers (4-1).

“I was trying to be aggressive, whether I was making the right read, getting the assist or scoring the ball,” Maxey said.

“I’m trying to pick my spots when to be ultra aggressive and when to get to the paint to get Joel a shot, get Kelly a shot, get them in the right spots. I think I’m doing a solid job of it right now.”

Maxey has shown a spark in replacing veteran James Harden, who was traded to the Los Angeles Clippers.

“Coach, Joel, Tobias, they trust me out there to see what I read out there on the court. Trust has been great and I appreciate them for that,” Maxey said.

“I know what my role is so it has been great.” Kevin Durant scored a game-high 31 points for the Suns with eight rebounds in a losing cause.

WOLVES, ROCKETS WIN

Anthony Edwards scored 31 points and Karl-Anthony Towns had 25 to spark the host Minnesota Timberwolves over Utah 123-95.

Dillion Brooks scored 26 points while Fred VanVleet and Jabari Smith each added 21 for Houston in a 107-89 triumph over Sacramento.

Charlotte’s Mark Williams scored 27 points and Gordon Hayward added 23 to power the Hornets over host Indiana 125-124. Tyrese Haliburton scored 43 points, matching a career high, and added 12 assists for the Pacers.

Trae Young had 22 points and 12 assists while Jalen Johnson added 21 points and 11 rebounds to lead Atlanta over New Orleans 123-105 despite Zion Williamson’s game-high 25 points for the Pelicans.

ALL RESULTS

SUNS 100 76ERS 112

HAWKS 123 PELICANS 105

LAKERS 101 MAGIC 120

HORNETS 125 PACERS 124

JAZZ 95 TIMBERWOLVES 123

KINGS 89 ROCKETS 107

CELTICS 124 NETS 114

BULLS 101 NUGGETS 123