HOUSTON — This wasn’t about Houston.
The Nets have a problem.
Brooklyn imploded in the third quarter, suffering a 112-101 loss to the Rockets on Wednesday night before a crowd of 16,563 at Toyota Center.
It extended their losing streak to five in a row, and 10 of their last 11.
And even though their activity and aggression were vastly improved from their humiliating blowout the night before in New Orleans, it wasn’t nearly enough.
“I think the awesome test of courage is just showing up,” coach Jacque Vaughn said before the game, showing how far the bar has been lowered. “I want to see our guys show up and compete against a good team, a physical team that presents a lot of problems, problems that we’ve had to deal with with other teams here recently. So I really just want to see our guys compete at a high level.”
The Nets (15-20) did show up at least, which is more than can be said of their in absentia performance against the Pelicans.
They hustled, they got deflections, they actually played hard.
They just got outclassed by a middling Rockets team that improved to 17-15.
After digging a 16-3 hole Tuesday right out of the gate and trailing wire-to-wire by as much as 32, this was more competitive.
The Nets led by five in the third quarter, before surrendering a 15-1 run — including the first 10 unanswered — and never challenging again.
The Nets shot 38.7 percent from the floor, and 13 of 44 from 3-point range as their extended shooting slump continues.
Leading scorer Cam Thomas saw his own woes worsen, held to just four points.
After an 0-for-7 night, the young guard has now missed 20 straight attempts from the field over his last three games. Mikal Bridges had 15 on 5 of 18 shooting.
That, and Houston’s one-two punch of center Alperen Sengun (game-high 30 points, eight rebounds) and point guard Fred VanVleet (21 points, 10 assists) proved too much to overcome.
“It’s desperation,” said Cam Johnson, who had 15 points. “We need to find a way.
“Sometimes when you’re in a rut like this, it wears on you heavy. We need to shed it. We need to shed it and just focus on being the team that we know we are, get that weight off our shoulders. That will free us [to] run a little faster, hit teams a little harder, rebound a little better. … Adversity, it doesn’t build character: It shows it. So it’s our time to show it.”
The Nets had built a 64-59 lead with 7:54 left in the third on a driving floater by Bridges.
But the Nets missed their next three shots, and saw Houston hit its next four.
A quick 10-0 blitz over the next minute-and-a-half — helped by a successful challenge by Houston coach Ime Udoka — flipped the five-point lead into a five-point deficit. Sengun’s layup made it 69-64 with 6:21 in the third.
The way the Nets are playing, it seemed insurmountable.
They missed six straight shots, and let the Rockets make five in a row — three of them from behind the arc.
Sengun’s free throws padded it to 74-65 with 5:04 in the third.
That’s when the Nets collectively let go of the rope.
The deficit reached 13 later in the period, and 107-89 with 4:44 to play on a 3-pointer by VanVleet.
The endgame was the crowd chanting for Boban Marjanovic, their sign for garbage time. And just how stark the Nets’ fall is.