Dearth of big men cuts Nets down to size on boards

With Jarrett Allen and Quincy Acy both out — Allen with a left foot strain and Acy with a left groin strain — and DeMarre Carroll laboring with a sore right ankle, the Nets’ frontcourt was shorthanded against the Suns on Tuesday night at Barclays Center.

That lack of depth showed in a big way in a 122-114 loss.

The Nets were outrebounded 66-44, with Tyson Chandler (13 rebounds) and Alex Len (15 boards off the bench) combining to grab more boards that Brooklyn’s entire starting five.

“The guards have got to help,” D’Angelo Russell said, after grabbing six rebounds, tied for second most on the Nets.

“We can’t continually give up rebounds where we know guys are going to crash, just little things like that,” Spencer Dinwiddie added.

The lack of big men was a rare opportunity for Tyler Zeller to get significant playing time. He had four points and four rebounds in 16:38.

“If you look at it we’ve got four bigs so those guys all get minutes. We’ll have to rotate them and do it by committee,” Nets coach Kenny Atkinson said of Zeller, who signed in the offseason, but had logged 15 minutes over two appearance so far this season.

“He hasn’t had a lot of game minutes. But the great thing about Tyler is he’s played a lot of minutes in this league playoff minutes. This is why you have a guy like this on the roster; you feel comfortable, he knows what we’re doing.”

When asked about his foot, Allen told The Post “I feel good.”

Atkinson said the 19-year-old center hurt it against the Nuggets on Sunday.

“During the last game. He just started to feel it. It was a little sore, and treatment, we went through shoot-around and we just don’t want to risk it,” Atkinson said. “Foot’s still a little sore, we’re going to play it on the side of caution.”

Allen Crabbe had just five points on 2-of-10 shooting, including 1-of-7 from behind the arc. He has just 38 points in his past five games, shooting 13-of-45.

“It’s still a work in progress,” Crabbe saidd. “But with each and every game I’m figuring it out. I feel the more and more we go along its going to continue to get better.”

The Nets play their next five games on the road, starting Friday night at the Lakers, and don’t return to Barclays Center until Nov. 14. They also face the Suns, Nuggets, Trail Blazers and Jazz before hosting the Celtics at the start of a three-game homestand.

Russell had a season-high 33 points — the most by a Net this season — with four assists.