In recent days Nets coach Avery Johnson has professed a desire to make his team smaller and quicker, even benching 6-9 power forward Kris Humphries against Philly on Sunday as proof of the team’s new direction. With Humphries out with a strained abdominal muscle, the Nets certainly played small on Tuesday, even disappearing for long stretches against the Boston Celtics in a dispiriting 93-76 loss at Barclays Center before a national audience in the team’s first appearance on Christmas Day since 2002.  The Nets (14-13) received just 22 points from their highly touted backcourt of  (10) and Joe Johnson (12) and dropped to 3-9 in December. Williams, who took just seven shots, admitted to feeling pain in his right shooting wrist during the game, just one of the issues the Nets now face.  The team was listless on defense, allowing Rajon Rando to carve them up for 19 points and six assists while Jared Sullinger had 16 and Jeff Green added 15 for Boston, on mostly uncontested shots.  “It just wasn’t a good day for us,” said Williams, who had surgery on the same wrist in 2011 and sprained it again in November and refuses to wrap it during games. “I got to play better. It wasn’t a good game for us all around.”  After a crucial win against Boston (14-13) on Nov. 28 in which Humphries and Rondo got into a dust-up, the Nets have receded in recent weeks, with Williams challenging Johnson to modify the offense and Johnson adding new wrinkles to placate his star. All of that seemed to be undone on Tuesday with the Nets managing just 14 assists compared to 25 for the Celtics — a disparity that Williams blamed on a lack of trust amongst the players on offense. The Nets, who also turned the ball over 20 times, were led by Brook Lopez and  , who had 15 points apiece.  “This one hurts,” said Wallace, who added six rebounds. “We didn’t play our game. They beat us from the opening tip. We didn’t make shots. We turned the ball over. Our defense just wasn’t there tonight. We have to figure something out because we weren’t ourselves tonight.”  Asked to explain what the team needs to do to change its fortunes, his answer won’t reassure Nets fans.  “I don’t have a clue,” he said. “We just have to figure something out. I think right now we have to get our mood back to where everyone is happy about playing basketball and everybody isn’t down.”  With Humphries out, Wallace took on the role of agitator. Tempers flared with 9:31 left after Wallace was fouled after a hard drive to the basket. He landed next to Kevin Garnett, holding onto Garnett’s jersey to brace his fall.  When he didn’t let go, the players had to be separated as Wallace, Garnett (eight points and 10 rebounds), the Nets’ Andray Blatche (seven points) and Boston’s Courtney Lee all were assessed technical fouls. Wallace declined to comment about what happened.  Garnett said he asked Wallace what he was doing but got no response. “I don’t know what the hell was going on,” Garnett said.
Who knew Kris Humphries meant this much to the Nets? With the beleaguered big man out of the lineup with a mild abdominal strain, the Nets laid a giant pile of coal against the Boston Celtics on Christmas Day, losing 93-76 at Brooklyn's Barclays Center before a national television audience.