Rockets spoil James Harden’s return to Houston, Nets take 114-104 loss

HOUSTON — Well, that was embarrassing.

James Harden’s return to Houston mirrored an Internet browser that failed to load a page. His shots didn’t fall, his turnovers matched his assists (eight), and the Nets suffered a rare road loss, 114-104, to the Rockets on Wednesday on the same Toyota Center floor Harden torched for eight seasons.

As expected.

Both Kevin Durant and LaMarcus Aldridge rested Wednesday night after playing heavy loads on Tuesday in Dallas. The players who didn’t have the luxury of resting were several steps slower than the young and energetic Rockets, who had six players score in double figures versus the four who did so for the Nets.

Harden’s shots didn’t fall. There were no late-game heroics from “The Beard,” who racked up way too many turnovers (eight) and enough bricks to supply a construction company building a 10-story apartment in Bedstuy.

Harden shot just 4-of-16 from the field and 3-of-12 from three-point range. Most of his damage came from the foul line (14-of-16 from the charity stripe), and yes, he still got the benefit of the whistle from officials in Houston, despite having jettisoned the franchise for Brooklyn last season.

One such whistle came on his best play of the night: a step-back three with a phantom foul call on his defender for a four-point play. That was his only made basket in the fourth quarter, the period he calls “winning time.”

Of course Harden is not absolved from the same conditions as his teammates: He, too, played 39 minutes in Dallas in the Nets’ come-from-behind victory against the Mavericks, in which the Nets trailed 17. He’s an Ironman accustomed to playing heavy loads due to his time carrying the Rockets when he was last in this arena.

What’s clear now, going on four years removed from his MVP campaign, is that Harden is no longer the same player he once was. And if he is, he’s doing a great job of fooling the world. He may have fooled the Nets into giving up draft compensation, a defensive anchor and a budding perimeter playmaker for a star who looks three steps past his prime.

Or maybe his body is two-to-three steps behind what his mind wants to happen on the floor.

Whatever the reason, the Nets are left picking up the slack for Harden’s inconsistent play. Without Durant and Aldridge — and without Joe Harris (ankle) and Kyrie Irving (unvaccinated) — the Nets lacked the scoring options needed to compete with Stephen Silas’ Rockets. Their best chance hinged on an explosion from their star guard.

Patty Mills scored 12 points on 3-of-11 shooting and rookie guard Cam Thomas strung together another impressive performance with 18 points off the bench on 7-of-15 shooting from the field. Paul Millsap scored 10 off the bench, including a poster dunk over Rockets big man Christian Wood and undrafted rookie David Duke Jr. also put together his best game of the season (nine points, three rebounds off the bench) helping spark a second-half rally.

Meanwhile, Rockets veterans Eric Gordon and DJ Augustin played as if they knew Sean Marks was watching. Marks, who traded player exception from the Spencer Dinwiddie deal, is expected to be active after the trade deadline, when veteran contributors on lesser teams tend to negotiate contract buyouts and enter free agency.

Gordon scored 21 points on 8-of-12 shooting before he was ejected early in the fourth quarter. Augustin came off the bench and scored eight points without missing a shot.

If Harden isn’t going to play up to his MVP level, Marks will need to consider all possible options both via the trade and buyout markets. The Nets built a roster to support three stars, but without Irving and with this version of Harden, they are not the juggernaut their record indicates.

It was the second game of a back-to-back, so the Nets will have a night off. Next up, they travel to Atlanta to take on Trae Young and the Hawks, another budding playoff contender.