The Nets and 76ers look considerably different than they did a year ago, but one thing hasn’t changed: the Nets can’t find a way to beat Philadelphia. 

After the Sixers won all four meetings between the two in the regular season a year ago and then swept the Nets in the first round of the playoffs, Joel Embiid dominated again, this time in a 121-99 Nets loss at Barclays Center. 

The Nets were again without starters Ben Simmons (back), Cam Thomas (ankle), as well as Dennis Smith Jr. (back), as they fell to 2-7 against teams with winning records. 

Philadelphia, meanwhile, is adjusting to life without James Harden just fine after Harden was traded, along with P.J. Tucker, to the Clippers. Under new head coach Nick Nurse, the Sixers entered Sunday with the second-best record in the Eastern Conference, behind only Boston, but had dropped two of their previous three games. 

Embiid, the reigning MVP — and the league’s leading scorer this year, entering with a 31.9 points per game average — has combined with emerging star, Tyrese Maxey, to keep Philadelphia dangerous. 

But it wasn’t just their scoring that hurt the Nets. 

Head coach Jacque Vaughn credited the 76ers with being more physical than his squad. 

“You saw it on the side-out-of-bounds, out-of-bounds underneath, or you saw it in pick-and-roll, their physicality,” Vaughn said. “Last two games, give credit to Miami and also to the Sixers of being extremely physical with us.” 

They didn’t plan on the Sixers being sizzling-hot from 3-point range, as they hit 9 of 16 from deep in the first half and Maxey helped Philadelphia gain control by hitting three quick 3-pointers in the third quarter. 

Lonnie Walker IV, who led Brooklyn with 26 points off the bench, said the Nets shouldn’t have let Maxey get such a clean look on each attempt and echoed Vaughn’s belief that they need to be more assertive on defense. 

“Just making our presence felt,” Walker said. “Let the [other] team feel us. … Our identity has to be defense.” 

The Nets trailed by 10 halfway through the first quarter, dominated early by Embiid. But the Nets got it back to a one-point game at the end of the quarter. 

They managed to take the lead for the first time on a Mikal Bridges bucket with 7:37 to go in the half and went up by four points later in the quarter. 

But just as they were victimized by a 14-0 run to close out the second quarter in Miami on Thursday, the Nets faltered late in the first half again. 

This time, they allowed a 15-0 run by Philadelphia at one point in the second quarter to fall behind, 56-44 and the Sixers closed the half on a 20-5 burst. 

Philadelphia used a 16-2 run to pull away. 

“They made a run at the end of the second and at the start of the third, we didn’t have that pop,’’ Nic Claxton said. “It’s hard getting down against good teams. … We’ve got to do a better job of keeping the game close.” 

Embiid finished with 32 points, 12 rebounds and nine assists, while Maxey added 25 points. 

Bridges had 16 points on 7 of 11 shooting in the first half, but took just one shot after halftime. 

Walker was the lone bright spot for the Nets. He’s scored at least 20 points off the bench four times this season, tied with Dallas’ Tim Hardaway Jr. for tops in the NBA. 

Claxton noted the amount of differences in the two teams. 

“It was physicality [and] they made shots,” Claxton said. “They were just too comfortable. We didn’t assert ourselves enough and make them feel us. We definitely can learn from it.”