EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J.—Three games in a row, the wildly injury-plagued Nets have lacked three starters. For the last two, it's been four.

The lone survivor is Brook Lopez, a second-year 7-footer around whom the team now pivots. Hounded by double teams as the obvious offensive option, the 21-year-old center has responded admirably, posting 20-plus points each time and averaging 22.6 points, 10.6 rebounds and 2.0 blocks. But even Wednesday's 23-point, 14-rebound effort wasn't enough to elevate the Nets to their first victory of the season - the team battled tough for a third consecutive game, and yet again came up short, dropping an 82-79 decision to the Sixers.

"What more can you say?" Lopez asked. "We were right there at the end of the game. We fought through and things just didn't go our way. We didn't really close it out, but we were right there again and they got us. We definitely fought our hardest, put our best effort forward."

Lopez nearly played hero: With 21.7 seconds left and the Sixers up one, Rafer Alston planted himself in front of a charging Andre Iguodala, drawing a charge and giving the Nets a chance to go ahead in the final seconds. The ball went to Lopez in the post outside the right block, and he backed in Samuel Dalembert before spinning toward the baseline, freeing himself for a two-handed layup that missed amidst contact. Lopez refused any thought of questionable officiating, saying only that he needed to make better moves next time.

Dalembert snagged the rebound, but missed the front-end of a two-free-throw trip, allowing the Nets to stay alive. Exiting the timeout, Alston and Lopez ran a high screen-and-roll, and when Terrence Williams' defender left to help, Alston fired a pass into the right corner. The rookie lined up the uncontested triple, but the shot drifted slightly to the right, hitting back iron and skipping into the hands of Thaddeus Young (20 points) on the far side of the rim.

It was a tough miss for the rookie, who posted his second double-double, tallying 10 points and a career-high 12 rebounds in the first start of his career. Williams had a strong third quarter (6 points, 5 boards), before struggling with his shot in the fourth, going 0-for-4. But at least Williams got that three off – the Nets' chances of forcing overtime were finally foiled when Alston's inbounds pass went directly to Sixers swingman Young with 3.9 seconds remaining. The play was designed to go to Trenton Hassell, and then back to Alston, who would be coming off a pick by Bobby Simmons.

"It was a bad inbound pass," Alston said simply. "But I saw Bobby curling tight (and) threw it to him. I was supposed to throw it to Trenton, run the play that was designed. And I threw it away. It was a bad read. I saw Bobby’s numbers, and he curled it, I thought he was wide open to catch it."

The Nets wouldn't have been in position to push the Sixers to the wire had they not turned in a stellar defensive effort, limiting Philadelphia to .390 shooting by contesting shots inside and out (the Sixers shot 5-for-20 from three). Josh Boone started for a second straight game at the 4, tallying six points, eight rebounds and three blocked shots while altering several others. Williams marked Iguodala for much of the night and harassed him into a 4-of-14 performance, though the Sixers' star managed nine rebounds and six assists.

Hassell (13 points) and Simmons (11) each scored in double-figures. Hassell started for a third straight night, with Simmons coming off the bench after a late return from Chicago, where he was attending to a personal matter. Eduardo Najera rounded out the rotation by contributing five points, three boards and four assists in 18 1/2 minutes.

"There's no such thing as failure, in the sense that you learn from all these situations," said Nets coach Lawrence Frank. "you walk into that locker room, the guys are very disappointed and dejected – but it's good. It's very disappointing to lose, but this is a prideful group. They're busting their tails. You get yourself in position to win the game, you attack the rim and you do the things you're supposed to do, and unfortunately it didn't come up on the positive side for us."

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