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This type of performance won’t help their embattled coach.

The Nets played sloppily, were careless with the ball and had no interior presence. They were thoroughly outplayed and out-talented by the Nuggets and fell, 101-87, in the opener of their Thanksgiving Week trip.

That makes it 14 in a row for the Nets to start this brutal season. Just six other teams have lost that many to open a campaign and now the Nets need three more to tie the all-time mark for the worst start in NBA history. This trip has three more games and that might be all Lawrence Frank has, too.

It’s no surprise the Nuggets won. They now have won 16 straight at home dating back to last season and they were playing the Nets after all. But how easily they won is what’s disconcerting and puts more heat on Frank.

"I’m very, very disappointed and embarrassed," Frank told the YES Network after the game. "This group by and large has competed very hard. Tonight we didn’t do what we’re capable of doing."

Frank said yes when he was asked if it was the most frustrating loss of the season, and his response had nothing to do with the tenuous hold he has on his job.

You can blame it on the third quarter again -- and it was a problem -- but the Nets trailed by double-digits for all but 37 seconds of the final 30 minutes or so. Turnovers, layups and dunks were a big part of the story of this game. The Nets had 24 turnovers. The Nuggets had, by my count, 26 dunks and layups.

"Big picture: our effort, our performance was unacceptable," Frank said.

The game started with hope for the Nets. Brook Lopez played despite a sprained ankle. Courtney Lee returned after a seven-game absence. And the Nets were set to have Devin Harris, Lopez and Lee -- the Big Three of this season, the three cornerstones that are supposed to help bring LeBron James to Jersey -- on the floor together for the first time since Oct. 30.

But less than five minutes in, Lopez picked up two fouls and he went to the bench. His third came 32 seconds into the second period, 32 second after he re-entered the game. He played just six first-half minutes, leaving the Nets with little inside.

When Lopez finally played in the second half, he didn’t have the same aggressiveness because he didn’t want more fouls. He grabbed his first rebound of the game with two minutes left in the third quarter.

Lopez wasn’t the only one in foul trouble or having a disappointing night. Chris Douglas-Roberts also drew three fouls in a hurry and sat down for a long stretch of the first half.

Lopez and Douglas-Roberts, their two leading scorers, combined for 10 fouls, nine points and six turnovers. You saw the frustration in both of them, especially.

Harris finished with 19 points and six assists, but was just 4-of-14 from the field. Lee was 2-of-7 with seven points. Both of them are going to come around. They just need time to play together and get their legs back.

Typically, the third quarter started atrociously for the Nets. They had five field goals and eight turnovers after halftime. The Nuggets scored eight points before the Nets scored one. You have seen this before, many times this season.

The Nets made a run, cutting a 23-point third-quarter deficit to 10 with 4:41 left in the fourth. But back-to-back bad defensive sequences – resulting in layups – had the Nets back down 14 and well on their way to loss 14.

The Nets played hard, but could have played harder. Mor effort was needed. They didn’t play smart and were out of sync. At times they looked like a team that hasn’t played together much, which they haven’t now that they’re starting to get some regulars back after long layoffs.

But those are excuses. Here are some more if you’re looking for them:

The Nets are pressing and trying too hard because they just want this skid to end or the change the altitude having an effect on the players.

The second is weak but there probably is some truth to the first. They just need to relax and play. But that's not enough. They have to work hard on the defensive end, don't give up easy scores without a hard foul, take care of the ball and work for good shots.

They did none of that last night, which has the Nets three losses from joining some bad company. 

Al Iannazzone covers the Nets for The Record (Bergen County, N.J.)