PHILADELPHIA (NBA.com exclusive) --  There were too many empty seats or players dressed in suits at the end of the New Jersey Nets bench.

When that happens, the news can't be good.

Only nine Nets were in uniform for Friday's game at Philadelphia. Obviously, it was a struggle to generate much cohesion for 48 minutes in a 97-94 loss to the 76ers at the Wachovia Center.

The Nets fell to 0-6, their worst start in franchise history. The 1996-97 version began 0-5 and finished 26-56.

"I don't know if I've ever seen this," Nets coach Lawrence Frank said. "It is what it is. It's happened before. Things happen and you have to make sure you don't have slippage. No one is feeling sorry for ourselves. We have to continue to march forward."

Still, it's extremely tough when you take the court without Devin Harris, Jarvis Hayes, Yi Jianlian, Tony Battie, Chris Douglas-Roberts and Keyon Dooling. Jianlian recently suffered a sprained right medial collateral ligament and is out 3-4 weeks. Harris is expected to miss the next two weeks with a strained right groin.

Playing without these six players wasn't all that noticeable in the first half.

The Sixers led 50-47 and seemed frustrated by some half-court traps New Jersey installed, especially late in the second quarter.

Lou Williams and Thaddeus Young were 2-for-10 while Samuel Dalembert played 15 minutes and contributed little -- zero points, two rebounds and three fouls. Dalembert struggled against New Jersey's Brook Lopez, who was impressive with 10 points and five rebounds in the quarter.

Nets forward Trenton Hassell hadn't scored in eight minutes all season before breaking through for 11 points on 5-for-6 shooting in the first half.

Sixers reserve Jason Smith gave the club a nice lift with eight points, four rebounds and some much-needed energy.

"I just took advantage of the opportunity to play more minutes," said Smith, who finished with nine points. "My goal all the time is to come in and play hard. I know I have to run the court, rebound and play defense and my points will come."

Lopez finished with 22 points and 11 rebounds while Hassell had 17 and 12 in 45 gritty minutes.

But the Nets lost guard Courtney Lee to a groin injury early in the third quarter.

Even in a game filled with positive aspects, the Nets had to endure another injury.

"I don't feel bad at all," Lee said. "I'm supposed to rest as much as possible and take it day-to-day."

The Sixers realized how short-handed the Nets were. They talked about that fact before the game.

"When you face a team that's missing so many pieces, you have a tendency to relax," said Dalembert. "You can't relax. We lost by 31 to Boston in our last game. We didn't want that to happen again. We didn't care who we were playing. We were coming out fighting."

Philadelphia trailed by seven early in the fourth quarter before mounting a furious comeback.

While Iguodala was hitting a crucial 3-pointer with 2:03 left, Elton Brand was watching from the bench. Brand played only 18 minutes and scored eight points.

"As long as we win, I'm fine," Brand said.

The Sixers improved to 3-2 with the win. But there are holes to fill, most notably Dalembert's production (two points and six rebounds in 29 minutes) and Thaddeus Young's shooting. After a 4-for-16 effort against the Celtics, Young went 3-for-9 against the Nets.

"Thad, we'll get right," Sixers coach Eddie Jordan said. "He's a little bit disjointed. We'll fix it."