The Brooklyn Nets fell 121-99 to the Philadelphia 76ers Sunday at Barclays Center for their first blowout loss of the season. The defeat marks Brooklyn's second straight after wins over Washington and Orlando pushed them over .500 for the first time this year.

Here are three key takeaways from a decisive Nets loss.

Lonnie Walker IV breakout continues

One Nets bright spot persisted through convincing losses in their last two games: Lonnie Walker IV continues to look like an elite bench scorer.

Walker led Brooklyn with a season-high 26 points on 9-of-17 shooting from the field and 6-of-11 from three against Philadelphia. The 24-year-old gave Nets fans the highlight of the year up to this point in the first quarter, going coast-to-coast for a vicious transition slam over the entire 76ers team.

The performance comes after the 24-year-old scored a season-high 23 points on 9-of-18 shooting during Thursday's loss at Miami. For the season, Walker is averaging 16.5 points per game on 51/41/80 shooting splits. The first-year Net leads the NBA in scoring among players averaging 26 or fewer minutes per game.

Mikal Bridges quiet after hot first half

Mikal Bridges has yet to turn in a vintage performance this season like those he consistently posted during a 26-game stretch to close 2022-23. He appeared to be on his way in the first half Sunday, leading the Nets with 16 points on 7-of-11 shooting.

However, the 27-year-old disappeared in the second half, attempting just one shot, and Brooklyn's offense looked lost without him. The Nets turned the ball over 15 times in the loss, leading to 17 Philadelphia points. Spencer Dinwiddie and Cam Johnson continued inconsistent starts to the season, combining to shoot 6-of-22 from the field and 1-of-9 from three.

Despite his quiet second half, Bridges said he didn’t feel Philadelphia did anything different defensively to slow him down.

“I was just trying to find it off ball. That's what it is,” he said. “I feel like there was nothing really different. Just got to find it off-ball a little bit. If I don't have it, maybe just run to it or something.”

“I don't have it all the time. So it's tough. To be on the weak side and another play might go on, but just trying to find it when I'm off the ball.”

Entering Sunday, the Nets ranked 18th in offensive rating over their last five games with Ben Simmons and Cam Thomas sidelined. Bridges is averaging 18.6 points per game on 41 percent shooting from the field and 25.7 percent from three during that span.

Poor first-half close dooms Nets again

The Nets lost control of Thursday's game at Miami at the end of the first half. They shot 0-of-7 and committed three turnovers in the final four minutes, allowing Miami to go on a 14- 0 run.

“The biggest message to the group about that time is finishing quarters. There’s momentum shifts that happen throughout the course of the game. You don’t want those at the end of quarters, especially going into halftime,” head coach Jacque Vaughn said of the message to his team pregame Sunday.

The message didn't get across, as a similar script played out against Philadelphia. The Nets led 44-41 with four minutes remaining in the first half. They shot 2-of-9 the rest of the way while allowing the 76ers to shoot 7-of-7 and close on a 20-5 run to take control.

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All 20 of Philadelphia's points during that span came from Joel Embiid, Tyrese Maxey and De'Anthony Melton. Embiid and Maxey have led the 76ers to a 10-3 record this season, and Vaughn indicated pregame that Brooklyn would look to force the ball out of the star duo's hands.

“We're going to have to allow certain dudes to score tonight or have the risk of certain guys on that team maybe having more open shots than Joel and Maxey. That's just a part of it,” he said. “We'll have to give them different looks throughout the course of the night, they're too good to give them the same look.”

Despite the strategy, the Nets had little success slowing either down. Embiid poured in a game-high 32 points on 11-of-24 shooting from the field and 9-of-10 from the free-throw line. Maxey added 25 points on 6-of-11 shooting from three.

Melton fit into the “certain guys” category of Vaughn's strategy. The six-year veteran had no issues taking advantage of his open looks, scoring 21 points on 8-of-10 shooting from the field and 4-of-6 from three.

Sunday's loss brings the Nets to 6-7 on the season. Brooklyn will have an opportunity to creep back to .500 when they travel to Atlanta for a meeting with Trae Young and the Hawks on Wednesday.