Ben Simmons Mocked by Twitter for Not Scoring as Nets Lose to Jayson Tatum, Celtics

The Brooklyn Nets are going to need Kevin Durant to compete with the Boston Celtics come playoff time.

Boston came into Barclays Center on Thursday and left with a 109-98 victory in the potential postseason preview. While the Nets didn't have Durant because of a knee injury, Jaylen Brown was sidelined on the other side with an adductor strain.

Brooklyn fell to 27-14 on the campaign and has now lost two of its last four following a 12-game winning streak.

The Nets are going to need scoring to make up for the absence of Durant, and they had five players in double figures, including Kyrie Irving (24 points) and T.J. Warren (20 points). However, none of that scoring came from Ben Simmons, who failed to notch a single point while going 0-of-3 from the field.

To his credit, he dished out 13 assists and grabbed nine rebounds in a strange performance that drew some praise but mostly criticism:

It will take a group effort for Brooklyn to survive without Durant, especially against elite teams, and it received just that for extended stretches in Thursday's contest.

Warren and Seth Curry provided a spark off the bench, Joe Harris found his stroke from deep, and Nic Claxton protected the rim on the defensive side. It was far from just everyone standing around and hoping Irving would go to work without Durant, and it put the Nets in position to potentially win down the stretch.

However, it became more difficult to compete as the game progressed with the Celtics not having to worry about Simmons as a scorer. That was never clearer than in the second half when he had a layup but instead passed it to Claxton in a play that ended up with a turnover.

Nobody is asking Simmons to score 20 points a night, but he will need to provide more than zero while Durant is out with his injury.

He will get another chance to do just that Sunday when the Nets host the Oklahoma City Thunder.