The Celtics didn’t have Kevin Garnett or Rasheed Wallace, but the Nets were minus Keyon Dooling and Tony Battie so it all evened out. Not really.

Boston would have had to be without Garnett, Wallace, Big Baby Davis, Paul Pierce, Rajon Rondo, Brian Scalabrine, Ray Allen and Kendrick Perkins for the Nets to have had a chance Wednesday night and that might be pushing it.

This one –- a 111-87 Boston rout -- was over early as the Nets failed to defend and rebound and let the Celtics' aggressiveness take them out of the game right away. It was a double-digit deficit about six minutes into the game and surpassed 20 with just under two minutes to go in the first period.

There’s no truth to the rumor that recently acquired Shawne Williams, who was exiled from the Mavericks since October, asked to be traded back to Dallas.

This was another game in which the real drama was what the final margin would be. The real thing the Nets’ executives and coaches were looking for was how would the Nets respond?

They showed some life in the second half, particularly Devin Harris with his hustle on defense, but it was far too little and much too late.

Late in the game, members of the Celtics’ third team were driving and dunking on the Nets that coach/GM Kiki Vandeweghe called a timeout to stop the embarrassment.

“First half, there’s nothing to say except they just outworked us, outplayed us in every facet of the game,” Vandeweghe said. “We came with no energy and then the second half the guys got after it a little bit.”

It’s not a good time for anyone associated with the Nets, least of all management and players. Changes are coming. No doubt about it.

An ownership change is coming during the first quarter of this year, and Mikhail Prokhorov might determine that no one on the management team is worth keeping, which would be a mistake. Rod Thorn deserves a shot to rebuild this team again.

More roster changes are coming as Thorn and Vandeweghe continue to try to find ways to add assets, increase flexibility or just change the attitude in the locker room.

The Nets don’t have bad guys or guys with bad attitudes. But there’s got to come a point where the Nets say they’re not going to take this anymore and play like that. It really is surprising it hasn’t happened yet.

This game isn’t the end-all, but it just typified their season. Show something.

The Nets should be better than 3-35 and maybe if they were healthy all season they would be. But they have to show it. This was an awful performance that lacked effort, desire and togetherness.

The Nets made their token run in the third period. It was a combination of the Nets finally playing like they cared a little and the Celtics easing up after walking off the floor in the first half following an out-of-bounds play with nine-tenths of a second left that resulted in an Allen –- unguarded –- layup and 36-point cushion.

The Celtics were laughing as they left the court. So naturally they let up a little. They had plenty of room for error now against the worst team in the league, and perhaps the worst team ever.

“They hit first and for those two quarters, we didn’t hit back,” Harris said. “They pretty much got whatever they wanted. You know, we didn’t take a stand on the defensive end.”

If the Nets really want to avoid the futility mark, they should remember all the good times teams are having against them, all the fun they’re having at their expense and play like they’re tired of it.

It still may not have made a difference against the Celtics, even without some of their main players. But you have to start somewhere.

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