NBA

Rockets send Nets into P.J.’s 1st skid

HOUSTON — Friday night in Memphis, the Nets got overpowered.

Last night in Houston, they got run out of the gym.

Looking a step slow from beginning to end, the Nets were on the wrong end of a 119-106 loss to the Rockets in front of a sellout crowd of 18,236 at Toyota Center to send them to a disappointing 2-2 on their four-game road trip. The Nets fell to 12-4 since P.J. Carlesimo took over and dropped back-to-back games for the first time on his watch.

The game was set up as a contrast in styles, with the Nets (26-18), whose offense is built around pounding the ball into Brook Lopez, entering the game playing as slowly as any team in the league while the Rockets, the league’s youngest team, play at the league’s fastest pace.

But instead of forcing the Rockets (24-22) to adjust to their game plan, the Nets allowed their opponents to dictate the flow of the game. Th e Rockets goaded the Nets into taking one quick shot after another and allowed the game to get moving much faster than the Nets would have liked.

“We didn’t get back in transition, we took quick shots and we kind of got into their tempo,” Gerald Wallace said. “They forced us to play their style of play, and we got away from playing the way we want to play.”

The result was the Rockets dominating in nearly every statistical category. They shot 49 percent from the field, including going 12-for-28 from 3-point range, hit more free throws (21 to 18), outrebounded the Nets 50 to 31 (including 14 offensive boards) and outscored the Nets 60 to 24 in points in the paint and 27 to seven on the fast break.

Even one of the few bright spots of the night for the Nets, a brilliant performance from Deron Williams, ended badly when he was ejected with 1:07 remaining by referee David Jones.

Williams, who finished with 27 points on 10-for-15 shooting to go along with 11 assists, appeared to be upset about not getting a foul call and kept talking to Jones until the referee decided he’d had enough.

“The referee said he said something to him and he threw him out,” Carlesimo said.

Williams had no comment on the game afterward.

The Nets were able to stay in it because they went 16-for-36 from 3-point range, setting a season high in made 3-pointers and tying a franchise record for attempts. But even that was deceiving, as it took the Nets away from using their biggest advantage — pounding the Rockets inside and slow the game down.

“We shot a good percentage, so it’s a little misleading,” Carlesimo said. “I just think those shots were there. … We didn’t want the quick 3s. I just didn’t think we controlled tempo well enough to win in the second half after the hole we had dug [ourselves].”

The Nets fell into that hole in the second quarter, when the Rockets outscored them 34-20 after Williams almost outscored Houston by himself in the first.

Williams, who suffered a left quad contusion in Friday’s loss in Memphis, came out playing as if he had a point to prove, scoring 20 points on a perfect 7-for-7 from the field in the first quarter, including a 3-pointer to end the quarter and give the Nets a 29-28 lead. That turned out to be their final lead.

The Rockets looked like a team full of young players with fresh legs as they opened the second quarter with a 25-6 run and went into halftime with a 62-49 lead.

Center Omer Asik, who finished with 20 points and 16 rebounds, made a layup to give Houston its largest lead of the night at 80-60 with 5:14 to go in the third.

The Nets managed to cut the lead to eight when Lopez, who finished with 22 points, seven rebounds and five blocks, hit a turnaround jumper in the lane with 8:27 remaining in the fourth. But the Nets couldn’t get any closer, thanks in large part to Rockets star James Harden, who finished with 29 points.

“We cut it to nine or 10, and we just couldn’t get over the hump,” Joe Johnson said. “We had breakdowns [defensively], and when you have one or two then guys stop trusting one another, and that’s when we kind of get out of sync.

“We have to get back to trusting one another and playing defense.”