HOUSTON — The line separating good and bad teams in the NBA isn’t as wide as it often seems. Most of the time, the line distinguishes itself in a game’s final minutes, when the good teams find ways to win and bad ones don’t.
Friday night’s game between the Nets and Rockets was a perfect example. The Nets got off to a hot start, taking an early double-digit lead, and found themselves ahead on the road against one of the NBA’s best teams.
But in the final minutes, the Nets made a series of questionable decisions and Houston — led by James Harden — took full advantage, emerging with a 102-98 victory at Toyota Center.
“We feel like we kind of gave this one away,” Deron Williams said. “But that was definitely our game.”
It looked as if the Nets (23-33) were in prime position to pull off one of their best victories of the season when Jarrett Jack picked off a pass with Brooklyn up 95-90 with just over two minutes remaining. But Jack tossed up an ill-advised 3-point try on the ensuing possession, and a bucket by Rockets forward Terrence Jones — who finished with 26 points and 12 rebounds — off a Harden assist made it 95-92 with 1:47 left.
The Nets appeared to catch a break when, after Joe Johnson missed a shot on their next possession, Brook Lopez came up with the offensive rebound. But instead of throwing the ball out to the perimeter, Lopez took it right to the rim and missed, allowing the Rockets to race down in transition and get Patrick Beverley a 3-pointer off another Harden assist to tie the game with 1:11 remaining.
“I didn’t make the right call, and it hurt us,” Lopez said. “I just thought I had a decent look, and I didn’t finish. It was spur of the moment. … I thought I could score.”
After rookie Markel Brown missed a wide-open corner 3-pointer on the next possession that could have put the Nets back in front, Harden used his craftiness to give the Rockets the lead for good.
After Houston called timeout, Harden hopped on Brown’s back, and then rolled off it onto the floor, goading referee Brian Forte into calling a foul with 43.6 seconds left. Because it was a foul off the ball with under two minutes remaining, Harden got one free throw — which he made to give Houston a 96-95 lead — and the Rockets got the ball back.
“I can’t explain it,” said Brown, who finished with a career-high 14 points in his third straight start. “The ref just made a call. I personally don’t agree with it, but you can’t take it back.”
But there was no need for any extra-curricular activity from Harden, who had 15 points and 12 assists, following the inbounds pass. He got the ball at the top of the key, drove the lane, managed to separate himself from Brown and buried a step-back jumper over the rookie’s outstretched arm to give the Rockets a 98-95 advantage.
“Yeah, that one hurt,” Brown said. “That hurt bad. He got me with a nice shoulder step-back. … I guess it’s time for me to get in the weight room.”
The Nets nearly got a chance to tie. After Williams made a layup and former Net Jason Terry answered with a pair of free throws, Josh Smith fouled Johnson with his foot just over the 3-point line on a jump shot with 11 seconds remaining.
But after making the first free throw to cut the lead to 100-98, Johnson said he was told by the coaching staff to miss the second free throw so the Nets, who didn’t have any timeouts remaining, could grab an offensive rebound.
The Nets were unable to grab the rebound, and Jones knocked down a pair of free throws with 8.2 seconds left to send the Nets to a second straight disappointing loss.
“But [with] 11 seconds, we had time to foul and they only would’ve been up one, and maybe somebody would go to the line and miss, and we’d still at least come back with nine seconds on the clock,” Johnson said. “It’s just a couple things that I thought we just mishandled down the stretch. It’s part of it. None of us are perfect, we all make mistakes, and us as players, we had the lead and we made a few plays we shouldn’t have.”
In doing so, the Nets showed the difference between a team that’s fighting for positioning atop the Western Conference, as the Rockets are, and one like the Nets, stuck in a battle for eighth place in the East.
“We’re getting better, but that being said, we have to get some wins, especially with where we’re at in the standings and how many teams are right there behind us and in front of us,” Williams said. “We needed this.”