After a crazy night in which Kevin Durant was pulled mid-game due to COVID-19 contact tracing, the Nets continued their trend of playing down to the level of their opponents and finding ways to fall to losing teams.

It cost the Nets in a 123-117 loss to the Raptors on Friday night at Barclays Center. And now they’ll have to head to Philadelphia on Saturday to face the East-leading 76ers without Durant.

Possibly thrown off-kilter when Durant was a last-second scratch from the starting lineup for health and safety protocols, the Nets had no answer for Pascal Siakam, who scored a game-high 33 points, or Kyle Lowry, who finished with 30. They dug themselves a 17-point hole. And with Durant limited to 19 minutes — and his first single-digit scoring outing since 2017 — they couldn’t quite come back.

“We definitely have a game to play; but we’re in huddle, coach is drawing up the first play of the game, we’re like, ‘Where’s Kevin?’ ‘Kevin can’t play.’ ‘Cool, whatever,’ ” said James Harden, who had 17 points, 12 assists and seven rebounds. “So then we’re starting the game up and then Kevin was able to play.

“So it’s like, ‘All right, let’s go.’ Then Kevin can’t play again, and it’s like, ‘OK, what are we doing?’ We try to focus on the game, try to focus on possession by possession, and try to get a rhythm because we started off slow. We’re not going to make excuses, but it was just a lot. It’s a lot.”

Bruce Brown — who replaced Durant in the starting lineup — had a putback to give the Nets a 110-108 lead with 3:50 left. But they coughed up eight unanswered points in a Toronto blitz that determined the game.

“I don’t get it. It’s frustrating, obviously. I mean they let him play and they take him out. I don’t know, I don’t get it,” said Jeff Green, who had 15 points. “We just want answers. I don’t know, I ain’t got nothing for you. I got no answer right now.

“It’s definitely a major blow knowing how it all was handled to begin with. Literally right before the game started, saying that he’s not going to be able to play. So that changes our approach with him out. Then they’re saying, ‘Oh, he can play.’ Now with the flow of the game, obviously it’s Kevin, but he has to find his rhythm … then he can’t play again. It makes no sense.”

The Nets looked out of sync from the opening tip. They coughed up the first seven points of the game and fell behind 13-4 on a Fred VanVleet and-one. Then, Durant was cleared by the NBA to play, at least for a while. He checked in with 4:23 left in the first quarter and the Nets down 26-17.

The deficit swelled to 44-27 on DeAndre’ Bembry’s running dunk with 10:07 left in the half. But with Durant back out on the floor, the Nets stormed back with a sizzling 40-point second quarter and went ahead 68-67 on a 3 by Joe Harris (19 points).

After both VanVleet and Raptors coach Nick Nurse picked up technical fouls, Kyrie Irving hit both free throws to put the Nets ahead 70-69. That was still the score when Durant got whistled for his fifth foul with 9:06 left in the third.

Nets coach Steve Nash challenged and got the call overturned, but that’s when Durant got pulled for those health and safety protocols.