In the fourth quarter of Saturday night’s game against the defending NBA champion Spurs, something strange happened: The Brooklyn Nets were making plays, having fun, and there appeared to be a little extra pep in their step.

With his bigs struggling mightily, Nets coach Lionel Hollins went small -- employing Mirza Teletovic at center -- and his team made a nice comeback before falling to the Spurs in San Antonio for the 12th straight time, 99-87, at AT&T Center.

“We went small, opened up the court a little bit, started driving on them and making them play and we made some buckets,” Hollins told reporters in San Antonio. “Early on, when we were bigger, we weren’t making any buckets around the bucket, and we weren’t stopping them and we got behind.”

Brook Lopez was the main culprit. In 25 minutes, Lopez went 3-for-8 from the field, scored six points, grabbed four rebounds and was a minus-16. He did not play in the fourth quarter -- again.

After the game, Lopez, in an out-of-character decision, decided to blow off the media, according to reporters in San Antonio.

Recently, he has been down on himself, frustrated that his touch has been off. Clearly, yet unsurprisingly, Lopez has been slow to come back from foot injuries.

The Nets said Lopez would be ready and able to go without restriction, but the production hasn’t been there.

Consider:

• In his last three games, Lopez has 13 turnovers.

• Since Nov. 9, Lopez is averaging 15 points and 4.9 rebounds on 47.6 percent shooting in 29.3 minutes.

• On the season, Lopez ranks seventh-worst among big men (eight or more attempts per game and 10 or more games played) in rim protection (54.3 percent).

• In the fourth quarter, he’s averaging just 1.8 points and 1.2 rebounds in 5.9 minutes.

• And the relationship between the old-school Hollins and laid-back Lopez has frequently been put under a microscope.

“Brook’s a resilient guy,” Deron Williams (24 points, seven assists, five rebounds) told reporters. “I don’t think he’s being bothered right now. He missed all of last year. It’s gonna take somebody that missed all of last year with a foot injury [a while] to kinda get his rhythm, get his feel back, and that’s what’s he’s doing.”

And while Hollins would probably never do this because he has always loved playing big, the Nets should consider bringing Lopez and his max salary off the bench and moving the slick-shooting Teletovic (22 points, 4-for-8 3-point range) into the starting lineup alongside Williams, Bojan Bogdanovic, Joe Johnson and Kevin Garnett.

What’s the harm?

After all, Brooklyn’s regular starting lineup -- Lopez, Garnett, Johnson, Bogdanovic and Williams -- has produced a negative-5.7 net rating in 125 minutes, scoring 100.4 points per 100 possessions, while surrendering 106.1.

Going small worked for Jason Kidd out of necessity last season after Lopez went down. The Nets started switching on defense and firing up a ton of 3-pointers, which led to them becoming a force on both sides of the ball.

Splitting up Johnson and Lopez would allow Johnson to become the focal point of the first unit and Lopez to anchor the second unit. The Nets would be able to run flex action with Williams at point guard, then go into a slower, plodding style with Lopez coming off the bench.

And Teletovic -- who has taken off since Hollins spoke with him a week ago -- is having the best season of his career, averaging 11.7 points and 5.1 rebounds on 47 percent shooting. He’s playing with confidence, taking the ball to the rim and playing aggressive defense as well.

The Nets are 5-8 and have yet to beat a team with a winning record (0-6).

It’s time to change things up. It’s time to try something new.

Johnson, who made headlines for calling his teammates selfish, is averaging just 13.9 points on 40.7 percent shooting in his last seven games. Bogdanovic failed to make a shot on the roadtrip (0-for-12), prompting Hollins to suggest that he’s not attacking the basket and getting to the free throw stripe enough. And Mason Plumlee is slumping like many sophomores do, prompting Hollins to insert the likes of Jerome Jordan and Cory Jefferson into the rotation.

“I was just trying to give us some life and energy,” Hollins told reporters of his decision to bring in his reserve bigs.

The Nets remain a work in progress, a team of highly-paid players still searching for an identity.

“I don’t know what kind of team we are,” Hollins said.

So when, exactly, are they going to figure it out?

“I wish I knew that, then I wouldn’t be so stressed,” Hollins replied.

Williams admitted he wants the Nets to have what the Spurs have.

“It’s a team you envy because they’ve had a system, they’ve had a coach, they’ve pretty much had the same group of guys for a long time,” Williams said. “And you can just tell they’re comfortable playing with each other. We haven’t had that luxury. We’re trying to get to that eventually.”

Since moving to Brooklyn, the Nets have had four different coaches. They’ve also had two excellent stretches: the second half of 2013 when Williams was healthy and the second half of 2014 after going small.

Williams is healthy again, so they have that going for them.

Why not go small again too?