NBA

Nets lose to Rockets

Playing without superstar point guard Deron Williams, who was out with a strained right calf, the Nets needed someone to step up and fill the void in last night’s game against the Rockets.

Gerald Green did just that, scoring 26 points on 10-for-15 shooting and converting one of the best dunks anyone involved with the game had ever seen. But even that wasn’t enough to overcome the Rockets, as a furious second-half rally by the Nets fell short in a 112-106 loss to Houston at Prudential Center.

“It is [a confidence booster], but, at the same time, we lost,” said Green, who signed his second 10-day contract with the Nets Thursday. “I’d rather have two points and get the win. … We lost, and it doesn’t really matter what I did.”

After a lackluster first half that saw the Nets allow Houston to shoot 59 percent from the field and 50 percent (5-for-10) from 3-point range, the Nets fought their way back into the game in the third quarter. After Houston went up 73-60 on a Luis Scola bucket with a little more than eight minutes left in the third, the Nets went on a 23-11 run to end the quarter to cut the deficit to one, 84-83, and took their first lead of the second half on a 3-pointer by Green to start the fourth quarter.

“What a great second half by our guys,” Nets coach Avery Johnson said. “We weren’t playing very good or efficient in the first half. … We were kind of feeling sorry for ourselves, especially with Deron not being here.”

The most memorable moment of the game came late in the third quarter, when MarShon Brooks threw an alley-oop to Green, who slammed home a ridiculous windmill dunk. The play brought the crowd to its feet, and left his teammates in awe.

“Once I saw him and he pointed up, it’s just my job to put it up there by the rim,” Brooks said.

But, after the two teams traded the lead throughout the fourth quarter, Green inadvertently put the Rockets ahead for good with 1:03 remaining when, while fighting with Houston forward Luis Scola for an offensive rebound, he tipped the ball into his own basket to give the Rockets a 107-106 lead they never would relinquish.