Nets rally ahead of Rockets to take top spot in the East

The Nets lost James Harden. But Kyrie Irving wouldn’t let them lose the game too – try as they can.

After Harden left the field with a tight right hamstring, Irving helped the Nets to a 120-108 win over Houston before 1773 at the Barclays Center on Wednesday night.

Faced with the ailing team of the Rockets to which they acquired Harden, the Nets (33-15) managed to win and take first place in East Philadelphia. But they made it a lot harder than it should have been.

“We talked about it at halftime. They know. They know it, ”said coach Steve Nash. “They are professional basketball players. They know it wasn’t good enough, not hard enough, wasn’t mentally locked up, and didn’t give the effort or respect it deserved. It doesn’t matter what is said or who said it. We discussed it, they took up the challenge. That is what matters.

“You can talk until you have a blue face, if they don’t take the challenge it doesn’t matter. They had pride and respect for each other and they came out competing and were amazing in the second half. It’s not perfect, but it was quite an effort, losing James, Kevin [Durant] outside, Landry [Shamet] outside, LaMarcus [Aldridge] does not play yet. I thought it was an exceptional effort and I’m proud of them and made up for a very painful first quarter.

They dug an 18-point hole and were still down 101-95 in the fourth quarter, before ending the game in a 25-7 inning, including the unanswered first dozen. Irving had 31 points and 12 assists, a game high, taking over late.

Irving found Joe Harris (28 points, 7 of 12 deep) for a 3 corner to put them forward, and Blake Griffin called with a 3 of his own for 105-101. A Harris driving layup padded him at 107-101, and they pulled away from there.

“[The win] reveals very little honestly, because we’re going to get the best shot from each team, so that’s something we’ve come to come to terms with, ”Irving said. “We know the game plan we have to execute and it’s up to us to do it at a very high level. Sometimes we don’t make that choice in the first four minutes or the first five minutes, where we go down 18-6 or 18-4 and just dig holes on the scoreboard.

“I just have to be resilient, persevere and we’ll start taking shots. But it just comes with our efforts. I have to bring it the first five minutes. In the last few games we haven’t been able to do that so we caught up and got by with this one but against the big teams we know we have to bring it in from the first minute .

The Nets let the Rockets hit eight of their first nine shots, digging into a 24-8 hole just outside the gate. They trailed 42-29 after a first quarter that allowed them to shoot 78.9% and 7 of 9 in depth.

He was still 68-57 at the break, despite Irving and Harden scoring 35 points. They can only hope that the latter does not run out of time. He tested his hamstrings late in the game but was held up. His status for Thursday’s game against Charlotte is uncertain.

Brooklyn was still behind 82-69 with 5:09 left in the third on a Jae’Sean Tate driving layup. It was then that the Nets mounted their first rally, a 14-0 run with the first dozen either scored or created by Irving.

Kelly Olynyk’s driving float put the Rockets back 87-86 to end the period, and the Nets fell behind 101-95. But Brooklyn closed on that 25-7 run.

The Nets, who couldn’t buy a stoppage earlier, harassed the Rockets to miss 11 of 12 later. Nic Claxton (12 points, eight tables, plus-19) played again the entire fourth quarter and was hailed by Nash as his best defender.

“Like you said, we had a real, real, real, real, real, really slow one,” Claxton said. “But coming back and having the courage to win was huge and that comeback was a lot of fun.”

The way they closed may help them regain their momentum, now 26-9 since the NBA second-best trade Harden. Sill, Houston general manager Rafael Stone, doubled down on Monday, insisting he had no remorse from the seller.

“I would definitely do this deal 100% again,” Stone told reporters. “Again, you don’t have the benefit of knowing everything I know, but no part of me regrets making this deal. I did not guess for a single moment.