Jordi Fernandez calls out tanking Nets’ ‘unacceptable’ effort after humbling loss to Rockets

HOUSTON — Early days, the Nets tank appears safe.

But losing is the easy part.

The hard part is walking the tightrope of losing without becoming losers.

In the most star-driven league in sports, the most direct path to getting one is through the draft — or more to the point, through the lottery.

Through losing.

And the winless Nets certainly are doing that. But capitulating the way they did Monday — a 137-108 humbling in Houston before 18,055 at Toyota Center — was “unacceptable.”

“I need consistency and urgency. And that’s got to be like something that we cannot decide if we’re doing it or not,” coach Jordi Fernández said. “It’s a matter of who we want to be, right? Giving up 42 to start, it’s not great.

“It’s just unacceptable to take an NBA game for granted. And our guys are trying. They just don’t know how much harder and focused they can do things. And I believe they’ll keep taking those steps. A lot of it is just lack of experience.”

That’s the tightrope the Nets (0-4) are walking.

After drafting five first-round picks, the Nets want that experience to see those rookies grow up, not get beaten down.

Only one was in the lineup — Ben Saraf, whose minus-9 was actually best of the starters, an indictment of how bad this rout was.

Nolan Traore backed him up with Egor Dëmin rested to manage his plantar fascia, while Drake Powell and Danny Wolf started G-League rehab assignments.

They were spared this caning.

Cam Thomas had a rare off night with nine points on 3-of-9 shooting, his myriad injuries possibly catching up to him.

Terance Mann had a team-high 21 points, but the defense allowed 57.6 percent shooting from the field, leading to the blowout.

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The Nets have the worst field goal defense in the league and have allowed over 50 percent shooting every game.

Unlike a year ago — when a 9-10 start saw Brooklyn end up drafting a disappointing eighth — this time, their lottery prospects seem much safer.

Understand that players do not tank, and neither do coaches.

Organizations do that, by taking the former away from the latter.

And GM Sean Marks has done that, purging veterans and bringing in the record rookie haul.

The Nets are one of just three winless teams, and neither the Pacers nor Pelicans are tanking.

Their perceived lottery rivals — the Jazz and Wizards — already have notched three victories between them.

The Nets got torched again on defense, with Tari Eason leading Houston with 22 points and old friend Kevin Durant adding 19.

They allowed 42 points in the first quarter and trailed by as much as 33 in the fourth.

“They were getting out in transition. No one was getting back. We’ve got to talk better on defense,” said Day’Ron Sharpe, who had 17 points and a dozen boards. “It’s all the things on defense. We can’t have too many lapses of not talking or doing the wrong [thing], in the wrong position. We’ve got to work on that.”

The Nets allowed 18 unanswered points to watch this one get ugly.

Sharpe’s 3-pointer pulled the Nets within 27-25 with 2:48 left in the first, but Durant dunked to spark that 18-0 run.

The Nets fell behind by 20, down 45-25 after an Eason free throw.

They never got closer than seven the rest of the way, that margin coming on a Thomas 3-pointer.

It was 71-60 at the break, but the Nets allowed a 14-4 run coming out of the locker room.

Fernández called a timeout to give his team an earful, but it didn’t stem the tide.

They trailed 103-77 by the end of the third and by 33 in the fourth.

“It was everyone. … We’ve got technique-wise to get better. The rebounding has been an issue. Our coverages have been an issue because you cannot halfway do it. You have to do it 100 percent,” Fernández said. “You give up 140 points, 50 percent from the field, it’s not going to be good. And right now, it’s the result that we deserve as a group. But I know we can do better.”

That’s the hope.

The Nets didn’t intend this rebuild to drag on for years.

Tanking can be effective, but only when done in microdosing.