The Spurs didn’t have Tim Duncan or Manu Ginobili last night, but Tony Parker on his own was far more than the Nets could handle.
Parker became the latest in a long line of quick guards to carve up the Nets’ defense, finishing with a surgical 29 points and 11 assists while shooting 12-for-21 from the field and committing no turnovers as the Spurs routed the Nets in the second half and cruised to a 111-86 victory in front of 17,014 inside Barclays Center.
“The strategy [to stop Parker] was to get as much help as we could for the guy who was covering him, and play his pick-and-rolls, and if he beat us, make him beat us outside,” Nets interim coach P.J. Carlesimo said.
“The strategy obviously wasn’t good enough tonight.”
The Nets (29-22), who have lost three of their last four games and six of their last nine, led 57-51 at halftime before they were outclassed by the depleted Spurs in the second half. The league-leading Spurs (40-12) outscored the Nets 60-29 while shooting nearly 65 percent (24-for-37) from the field and 7-for-12 (58 percent) from 3-point range.
Meanwhile, the Nets shot 36 percent from the field, went 1-for-9 from 3-point range and committed 11 turnovers that led to 19 Spurs points.
“We should take a look at the guys in the locker room over there,” Gerald Wallace said of the Spurs. “One through 15, everybody comes in and knows their role. It doesn’t matter who they have on the court. Their offense looks the same, their defense looks the same, regardless of who is playing and who is not playing.
“We have to get that mentality. Regardless of who is on the court for us or what’s going on, our offense and defense has to be the same for all four quarters, regardless of what’s [happening] on the scoreboard.”
But, more than anything, what happened to the Nets was Parker repeatedly having his way with the Nets, playing as well as any point guard possibly could and thoroughly outclassing Deron Williams.
It was Parker who looked like the player who signed a $100 million contract this summer, as he went 7-for-9 in the second half with 15 points and six assists while doing whatever he wanted — from attacking the rim to hitting jumpers to hitting a wide-open teammate for an uncontested jumper. Williams, on the other hand, finished with 15 points, three assists and three turnovers.
And Parker did it all without the help of a pair of future Hall of Fame teammates in Duncan, who sat with a sore knee, and Ginobili, who sat with a sore hamstring.
“He realized and he knows he’s got to pick up his game. He knows he’s got to score more,” Spurs coach Gregg Popovich said. “He’s doing that, but involving the entire team at the same time. That’s a huge credit to him.”
Last night’s was the first of seven straight for the Nets against teams with winning records, including tonight’s game at Indiana, where the Nets will try to pick up the pieces after a second straight demoralizing loss.
“It’s another rough one,” Williams said. “We’ve had a lot of ups and downs, and we’ve got to get past that. We have to be more consistent as a group.”
➤ESPN reported last night that the Nets are pursuing a trade for Hawks forward Josh Smith. Any deal the Nets make between now and the Feb. 21 trade deadline would likely include power forward Kris Humphries, who is in the first year of a two-year, $24 million contract he signed this summer as a free agent.
tbontemps@nypost.com