In what is becoming a recurring theme, the Nets were killed on the glass Friday night.
The 76ers — who are smaller at several positions — outrebounded the Nets 49-37, including 12-5 on the offensive glass. It’s something the Nets have repeatedly struggled with and it is hard to explain given the size they have across their lineup.
“We need to have a better effort on the glass,” Paul Pierce said. “It’s just inexcusable right now, one of the biggest teams in the league for us to get crushed on the glass every night.”
The Nets spent the past two days — after being dominated on the boards by the Wizards in Brooklyn Wednesday — talking about how they need to do a better job in that department, and then fell far short of doing so on the court Friday.
Brook Lopez and Andray Blatche managed to corral just 10 rebounds between them in about 65 combined minutes, as many as Pierce had in 43. The Sixers, meanwhile, had one possession late in overtime when they got two straight offensive rebounds and nearly a third before the Nets were finally able to secure the ball.
That inability to clean up on the glass led to the Sixers earning a 21-11 advantage in second-chance points and a 66-30 advantage on points in the paint, where the Sixers shot over 60 percent and the Nets under 50 with Lopez (9-for-19) and Blatche (3-for-10) both struggling mightily.
“Rebounding again, in that last minute there was a lot of them we could have got and didn’t get to,” Deron Williams said. “Loose balls, it gives them extra possessions and so it’s unfortunate that it’s been happening. Don’t know why, but it’s something definitely we need to pay attention to and clean up. “
With Joe Johnson and Kevin Garnett sitting out against the 76ers, Alan Anderson and Mirza Teletovic did as much as they could to replace them.
Anderson finished with 26 points on 9-for-17 shooting — including five 3-pointers — while Teletovic hit a career-high six 3-pointers to account for his 18 points.
They took turns impacting the game, with Anderson scoring 23 of his points after halftime — including 16 in the third quarter — while Teletovic had 15 of his points in the first half.
“Everybody pitched in,” Nets coach Jason Kidd said. “Everybody gave their best effort.”
After playing Garnett for nearly the entire fourth quarter of Wednesday’s loss to the Wizards, Kidd opted to sit his future Hall-of-Fame power forward on Friday.
“We’ll try to give him some rest before going up against Indiana [Monday],” Kidd said before the game. “We felt [Friday] would be a good game to give him some rest after giving him [11] minutes in that fourth quarter.
“He’s a competitor. He wants to compete. He wants to help his team win. But I think he understands why I’m giving him the rest, and the time he spent on the court in the last game, I felt he deserved to have the day off.”
Friday’s game was just the third Garnett has missed this season, after sitting out Nov. 16 in Los Angeles against the Clippers with a sprained ankle and getting a rest day Nov. 29 in Houston. He’s averaging 6.5 points and 7.2 rebounds in 23 games.
Johnson missed the game for personal reasons, which meant a return to the starting lineup for Pierce after playing the previous five games coming off the bench following his return from a broken bone in his right hand. Pierce was excellent once again, finishing with 24 points, 10 rebounds and five assists.
The starting lineup for the Nets — Williams, Anderson, Pierce, Teletovic and Lopez — was the 12th starting lineup the team has employed through its first 26 games.