PHILADELPHIA — The Nets lineups and rotations finally are showing a commitment — shamelessness? — to the tank they hadn’t shown up to this point. 

But their bench nearly pulled off a Pyrrhic victory. The reserves stormed back from a huge hole in the fourth quarter before falling 104-97 to the 76ers on Saturday afternoon in front of 18,418 at Xfinity Mobile Arena. 

Brooklyn played without Michael Porter Jr., Egor Dëmin, Day’Ron Sharpe and Nic Claxton — though Claxton was merely rested. Then regulars Noah Clowney, Terance Mann and Ziaire Williams dug a 28-point hole and got benched for the entire fourth quarter. 

That final period saw the Nets, utilizing two-ways and a player inked that morning on a 10-day contract, use a 31-9 extended run to flip a 21-point deficit into a lead. But it’s a lead they couldn’t hold, falling just short. 

Rookie Danny Wolf had 15 points and 10 rebounds, and he was the only quasi-regular to log more than three minutes in that fourth quarter. Little-used Josh Minott added 14. 

Instead, the Nets relied upon two-ways E.J. Liddell (career-high 10 points) and Chaney Johnson (career highs of six points, 10 rebounds, three steals) as well as Malachi Smith, who made his NBA debut after inking his deal that morning. 

“It was great. We have young guys, rookies playing in the fourth quarter and getting a lot of experience. We have these guys that we need to know what we’ve got, playing high level to win a game,” coach Jordi Fernández said. “Playing competitive minutes is way better than just playing minutes. And this was great.” 

The Nets (17-50) now sit just a half-game behind the Wizards for third in the lottery standings, a game behind the Kings and two behind the Pacers. 

Moreover, they’ve revealed a single-minded intent to win the tank race they hadn’t shown before, an in-game manipulation that had seemingly been off-limits. 

After having benched Claxton and Clowney in the fourth quarter of a nail-biter in Atlanta, Fernández sat Clowney, Williams and Mann in the final period Saturday. 

“I ain’t ask questions,” Clowney shrugged. 

“It goes back to seeing guys that haven’t had a chance to play those minutes,” Fernández said. “It gives me a better sense of who they are as players and what can I see as they develop.” 

Fernández will get to assess and evaluate. The Nets have a $2.6 million option on Minott; Smith is on a 10-day; etc. 

“It was a dream come true,” said Smith, whose mother and stepfather flew in for his debut. “Single parent, had me at 20, driving 12 hours for AAU trips and six hours to watch me play in college. So she was like, ‘I’m not going to miss this.’ ” 

As important as judging this year’s little-used rookies is tanking for next year’s expected star rookie. 

The Nets faced a short-handed 76ers team sans Joel Embiid and Tyrese Maxey but nonetheless played with both hands tied behind their backs. 

It was by design. 

Porter missed a second straight with a sprained ankle yet made a lone contribution: a technical from the bench with 19 seconds left. 

“By the rules, he’ll rest whatever he [needs to] rest. Now he’s out with that ankle sprain. So whenever it’s back, we’ll figure that out,” Fernández said. “And if we have to give looks to these other guys because we want to see what’s going on — what we have and the plan we want to put in the future — this is going to be very important for us.” 

What’s important — make that vital — is lottery luck. The Nets are trying harder than ever to skew the odds in their favor. 

They trailed the Sixers 29-16 after one and 53-31 at intermission, their lowest-scoring first half of the season. 

It got even uglier in the second, VJ Edgecombe (16 points) putting them in a 67-39 hole with 7:39 left in the third. 

But the Nets, down 77-56 after three, opened on that 31-9 run. 

Liddell hit a 3 and then a follow dunk to pull them within 84-77. 

Smith scored a putback and pulled the Nets within 86-81 with 4:27 left. And after Quentin Grimes (game-high 28) missed a jumper, Liddell and Tyson Etienne hit back-to-back 3s to give the Nets an 87-86 edge with 3:23 to play. 

But they couldn’t hold it, allowing a 6-0 run and never recovering.