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ATLANTA -- The game got away from the Nets late in the second period but in essence it happened during the opening tap.

The way the Nets are constructed they have to play near-perfect basketball to beat playoff teams, especially contending ones like the Hawks. The Nets were dismantled by the Pacers on Friday and they will be in the draft lottery.

Even if the Nets were fully healthy, they probably would struggle against most teams, and definitely the one they played against Sunday. The Hawks made it look easy despite not having starter and defense stretcher Marvin Williams.

It didn’t matter. The Hawks still had too much, still had guys to stretch the defense and bodies to control the boards inside.

The Nets racked up a season high in points, but it didn’t matter because they couldn’t stop the Hawks on the other end and suffered another head-shaking, deflating defeat, by the count of 130-107. It was their third straight loss and third by at least 16 points.

Things were bad when Lawrence Frank was the coach, but in the six defeats since his firing the Nets have lost by double-digits five times.

Some of it is the opponent, although two of the last three have been Golden State and Indiana. Most of it is the Nets just don’t have the players or mental toughness to compete with some of these teams, particularly on the defensive end.

Things were supposed to change when Devin Harris and Courtney Lee returned and the offense, especially lately, has been much better. But the defense has gone backwards.

They let up 100 points four times in 16 games under Frank and eight times in 10 games since his dismissal.

Now the Nets are waiting for Yi Jianlian and Jarvis Hayes to return, and there’s no question they miss them. But they’re offensive players and the Nets’ problems have been on the defensive end.

“It’s pretty deflating but they’re a great team and their shooters, they made open shots,” Devin Harris said. “They were 11-for-16, I think, from three and that’s tough to match up with definitely with a team like that and the way they can score.”

They were 11-for-17, but the point is well taken. The Nets can’t compete with teams like the Hawks unless they play a perfect game on both ends and they didn’t by a long shot.

It was a good offensive night, for the most part. They shot better than 50 percent from the field, including 50 from downtown, ran the floor. But defensively is where they usually relax or fail to bounce back.

Wasted was Harris’ 23 points and nine assists and another double-double from Brook Lopez (19 points, 12 rebounds).

There was one stretch where the Hawks scored on 15-of-18 possessions -– and this was over a seven-minute stretch. There have been times when the Nets have had trouble scoring on 15 possessions in a half.

“As I told the guys, they’re making some progress,” coach Kiki Vandeweghe said. “We’ve made some progress on the offensive end. We shot 50 percent. We’re scoring the ball. It’s just now our defense was tough. And the Hawks made it tough – they played a very good game.”

Tough wasn’t the word to describe the Nets’ defense. Bad is and that's being nice. It's been bad for a while.

The offense is improved. Players love scoring points. But eventually you have to show mental toughness and a desire to play on the other end. That’s the only way the Nets will have a chance to win and against the more talented teams like the Hawks that might not be enough.

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