Hours after coach Steve Nash was fired amid reports he would be replaced by a man suspended for conduct violations, the Nets blew a double-digit lead late in a 108-99 loss to the Chicago Bulls. They did so as Kyrie Irving — who had been embroiled in the latest controversy of his own — didn’t score until the fourth quarter. He finished with four points. It was a surprising but not unexpected effort from the struggling Nets star. The chaos surrounding Irving and the Nets finally seemed to play into his game. Irving can’t be counted on to make good decisions off the court. He cannot be counted on to appear in it. But when he’s actually there, he can almost always be counted on to produce. A career scorer of 23.1 points per game, he entered Tuesday averaging 30.1 ppg this season. On Tuesday, he shot 2-for-12 from the field. We won’t hear about the root of Irving’s struggles from the source. After sparking a verbal spat with ESPN’s Nick Friedell over promoting an anti-Semitic movie, the Nets hid Irving from the media Tuesday for a second straight day in an effort to “let him simmer.” These are the words of Sean Marks. Here it is, straight from the general manager’s mouth, as he explained earlier Tuesday why the Nets are shielding Irving from reporters. “He didn’t do media last night, he won’t do media tonight,” Marks said Tuesday afternoon. … “We don’t want to cause more of a fuss right now with more interaction with people. Let’s let him simmer and, I guess, let cooler minds prevail.” It is unclear when Irving will speak. But the state of Nets basketball is not. A Brooklyn franchise with the specter of contending for multiple championships fell to 2-6 on Tuesday as the product on the field continued to mirror the turmoil away from the arena. The story continues Kyrie Irving sits on the bench in a scoreless first half against the Bulls. (Dustin Satloff/Getty Images) The Nets appeared on track to mount a temporary response while opening a 58-52 halftime lead on Tuesday. Irving was held scoreless, but Kevin Durant did the heavy lifting en route to a 32-point effort. They extended their halftime lead to 68-56 early in the third quarter and looked their way to a much-needed win. But the Bulls hung on from the third and hit the gas in the fourth with a 17-2 run. They outscored the Nets, 31-19, as Zach LaVine torched a hapless defense that had been unable to stop nearly anyone through eight games. The Bulls All-Star single-handedly outscored the Nets by 20 points in the fourth quarter in a 29-point effort. Ben Simmons, who was acquired in part to improve Brooklyn’s defense, watched from the bench for the second straight game with what the Nets have described as knee soreness. Not much indication that it would help much, regardless. He was aggressive while averaging 6.2 points on 5.7 field goal attempts per game with the Nets. Meanwhile, Brooklyn’s defense entered Tuesday ranked 29th out of 30 teams in defensive rating through seven games — six of which Simmons played. Tuesday was the first game under interim coach Jacques Vaughn. It looks like he doesn’t want much for the job as reports have Boston Celtics head coach Ime Udoka taking over in Brooklyn. If Udoka is indeed the next coach of the Nets, it’s a tough gig.