James Harden, Nets outmatched by Mavs; win streak ends at 8

NEW YORK — In a perfect world, the Nets’ superstar trio of Kevin Durant, James Harden and Kyrie Irving would have shot it out with the Dallas duo of Luka Doncic and Kristaps Porzingis. Perfection, however, has evaded the Nets this season.

Durant missed his seventh straight game with a hamstring strain, and Irving sat out due to injury maintenance on the right shoulder he received surgery on last year. And there were no Harden heroics on Saturday night as the Nets lost, 115-98, to the Mavericks and their well-earned eight-game winning streak, the longest active NBA run, came to an end.

The Nets did not have enough weapons to contend. A valiant effort through halftime was blown wide open in the third quarter, when Dallas held the Nets to just 18 points. The loss robbed the Nets of an opportunity to supplant the Philadelphia 76ers as the team with the Eastern Conference’s best record.

Harden scored 25 points in the first half but the role players did not contribute enough to combat Doncic (27 points, seven assists, six rebounds) and Porzingis (18 points), who combined for 45 points. Porzingis, the former Knicks star, looked spry and was a matchup nightmare for a Nets team with no legitimate answer for him on the defensive end.

Veteran forward Jeff Green and wing Bruce Brown scored 12 points, but no other players aside from Harden scored in double figures. The Mavericks made life difficult for Joe Harris, who shot 3 of 8 from downtown but did not see a field goal in the first quarter.

Timothe Luwawu-Cabarrot started in place of Irving and struggled from the field. He shot just 2 of 8 from 3-point range largely on open looks.

The Nets have two more games until the All-Star break. They travel to San Antonio to play the Spurs on March 1, then go to Houston for Harden’s first game back in H-Town on March 3.