EAST RUTHERFORD (NBA.com exclusive)  --  The Nets had seven players on their 15-man roster who couldn't play due to injury or illness.

But none were hurting or sick more than the eight players who actually took the court in their 86-76 loss to the Boston Celtics at the Izod Center on Saturday night.

The only winless team in the NBA, New Jersey's few and proud gave the Eastern Conference powerhouse a good run for three quarters, knowing full well that it come this far before only to come up empty.

And sure enough, with Ray Allen scoring eight of his 12 points in the fourth quarter, the Nets' undermanned prophecy came true: Eight was not nearly enough.

The Nets, despite 23 points from center Brook Lopez, fell to 0-7, continuing the worst start in franchise history.

"It's tough," said Nets guard Rafer Alston, who finished with 20 points and seven assists in 44 minutes. "We hate losing. And we know we're right there to win it. Again, we're going to go back and look at it and realize we made some mistakes."

After losing its first game of the season to the Suns on Friday night, Boston (7-1) got back on the winning track with Paul Pierce and Rajon Rondo scoring 16 points apiece.

The telltale for both sides, however, was the prelude to the scoring. The Celtics recorded 20 steals, including five by Rondo, making up most of New Jersey's 24 turnovers. With the Nets so short-handed, the miscues could be justified if they chose to justify. Some did. Others didn't.

"Because so many guys are out, we have to play in different spots," Alson explained about the turnovers. "Sometimes you don't know where to move sometimes because you're not used to playing that position."

"You can attribute it to that if you want an excuse," Lopez countered. "But they were just dumb little passes."

The Celtics pulled away with an 8-2 run midway through the fourth quarter, with a Terrence Williams turnover leading to a Rasheed Wallace 14-footer and giving Boston a 74-67 lead. The Nets failed to score in the final 2:58 of the game.

"We didn't take them for granted," Celtics forward Paul Pierce said. "We had to buckle down in the second half."

Of late, the Nets' misfortune has gone from bad to worse to almost ridiculous. Starters Devin Harris (strained groin) and Yi Jianlian (sprained knee) joining injured reserves Tony Battie (sore knee), Keyon Dooling (hip surgery) and Jarvis Hayes (strained hamstring) among the walking wounded.

But starting guard Courtney Lee strained his left groin in New Jersey's crushing 97-94 loss to Philadelphia on Friday night and couldn't play against the Celtics. And adding illness to injury, the Nets announced before the game that starting wing Chris Douglas-Roberts has contacted swine flu.

Some more perspective on just what the Nets were up against: New Jersey's starting five was collectively averaging just 36.7 points per game (compared to the Celtics' 67.1 ppg). In fact, only one Net starter (Lopez) was averaging more than 10 points a game in his career.

So Nets coach Lawrence Frank set out to shorten the game to give his team a chance at the end.

"Our guys are battling their tails off and we will break through," Frank said. "We're not discouraged."

While they were decidedly healthier, the Celtics entered the game having played eight games in 12 days.

As in most games in their difficult start, the Nets were right there for the first half, taking a 40-39 lead into intermission. They looked ripe for a third-quarter fade when Boston opened up a 52-45 lead. But New Jersey answered back, outscoring the Celtics, 16-7, the remainder of the period to take a 61-59 lead into the fourth quarter.

"Every loss hurts," Nets center Josh Boone said. "It doesn't get any easier when you play your heart out and you do all the things you can and unfortunately the score isn't your way at the end of the game.''