At the start of a four-game home stand, the Brooklyn Nets decided to get into a can-you-top-this game of offensive pyrotechnics with the Oklahoma City Thunder. Considering the Nets' modus operandi as a methodical, defense-minded team, it might not have been the soundest strategy.

But possession after possession, as both teams pinballed their way up and down the court, a simple truth seemed apparent: The Nets don't lack fight or confidence or the belief that can beat the NBA's top teams, even when advanced stats and common logic indicate otherwise.

Andray Blatche makes a layup, but Nets give themselves too much to do in the second half. Associated Press

The injury- and illness-depleted Nets gave the Thunder, a team now firmly entrenched as NBA royalty, all they could handle Tuesday night at Barclays Center before falling 117-111.

Oklahoma City's Kevin Durant scored 32 points on 9-of-16 shooting, including two key baskets in the final minutes. Teammate Russell Westbrook added 25 points, which helped the Thunder overcome a tour de force from Nets point guard Deron Williams, who delivered 33 points and seven assists.

As if facing Durant and Westbrook wasn't difficult enough, Nets coach Avery Johnson got some unsettling news before the team's morning shoot around. Reggie Evans, the Nets' most ferocious rebounder and one of their top defenders, was home with flu-like symptoms. "That's a big blow to our team," Johnson said. Evans sat out, and so did starting center Brook Lopez, who missed his second straight game with a sprained right foot.

After the Nets (11-6) fell Saturday to the defending-champion Miami Heat, Tuesday's game set up as the second half of a brutal one-two punch—last season's conference champions, back-to-back. Johnson was optimistic beforehand. Once upon a time, in the franchise's not-so-distant past, the prospect of facing the Heat and Thunder in quick succession would have been a "horror film," he said. No longer. Johnson, the NBA's Eastern Conference Coach of the Month for November, has maneuvered the Nets into the league's top echelon.

They made another statement against the Thunder (15-4), even in defeat. After trailing by as many as 16 points, the Nets cut the deficit to two points late. Oklahoma City never gave up the lead, as slim as it was. Andray Blatche, pushed into a starting role in Lopez's absence, finished with 19 points and 11 rebounds in the loss.

For arguably the first time since they introduced themselves to Brooklyn, the Nets found that the early-game spotlight wasn't squarely on them. The rocket-powered Thunder can have that effect. And for two-and-a-half quarters, the Nets offered little resistance.

Durant sank his very first shot, blocked Joe Johnson's very first jumper and sent the Thunder off to the races. A major part of the Nets' success this season has been their ability to slow the tempo. They came into the game averaging the fewest possessions per game, and their methodical play was by design. They needed to exercise that sort of patience against the Thunder, and they didn't do it—not by a long shot.

Without Evans in the mix, the Nets' help defense was lacking. The Thunder whipped the ball around the perimeter, spotted up for jumpers and made them with freakish regularity. En route to a 61-48 halftime lead, Oklahoma City shot 65.7% from the field.

Early in the third quarter, the Thunder's Kendrick Perkins caught a pass near the top of the key, turned to pass, realized no one was anywhere near him and dribbled 20 feet to the basket for a dunk. It was a typical sequence.

But the Nets rallied. Williams, looking to snap out of a prolonged shooting slump, wove his way to the basket against Westbrook for a layup that cut the Thunder's lead to nine midway through the third quarter and seemed to resuscitate a morose crowd. Then Gerald Wallace caught fire, nailing four 3-pointers in quick succession to slice the lead to 88-86. The Nets outscored the Thunder, 38-29, in the third quarter.

But against an elite, high-scoring opponent, even that much offense was too little. For one night, the Nets were almost there, though almost wasn't quite good enough.

Write to Scott Cacciola at