Trevor Booker high scorer for the Nets; Brook Lopez and Jeremy Lin were both inactive; Atkinson left no stone left unturned, but still could not contain the Rockets

Last night, the Brooklyn Nets celebrated Taiwanese Heritage and its most celebrated player, Jeremy Lin, who is Taiwanese, still, could not play because of a left hamstring injury. Also on the Nets inactive list was Brook Lopez, not because he was injured, but to allow Lopez to rest.

Despite the lopsided final score, the Nets were competitive up until the fourth quarter. At the end of the first stanza, the Rockets led by one 37-36. The end of the half, saw the Nets trailing by eight (74-66), and at the close of the third, 104-90. The fourth quarter, the Rocket kicked it into high gear to close out the game 137-112.

“We just could never stop them,” said Nets head coach Kenny Atkinson. “I don’t think we stopped them the whole night. I think we tried a lot of different things, tried changing coverages and couldn’t find a solution. Potent, powerful, offensive team that we couldn’t find the defensive switch.”

With every active Nets player seeing action at some point during the night, Atkinson tried every combination he thought made sense to get a stop, but to no avail.

“We started Justin (Hamilton) at the five, and I think they scored pretty good against that group,” Atkinson stated.

Justin Hamilton, in for Lopez, scored 11 points, three rebounds, and two assists.

“Then we went small to match their (lineup) and switch, do a lot of switching and try to keep them in front of us,” Atkinson continued. “But when you switch they have good one-on-one players, and I felt like when we switch we weren’t containing them off the dribble and they hit some threes. Eric Gordon again came off the bench and really good, he was excellent. Again, they dominated us and there is just no way around it. We can talk all night.”

In the win, Gordon came off the bench for the Rockets and led all scorers with 24 points, three rebounds, and three assists. Trevor Ariza had 23 points, eight rebounds, two assists and two steals. James Harden contributed 22 points, 11 rebounds, and 11 assists in 31:31 minutes.

Nets forward Trevor Booker led the Nets in scoring with 18 points and five rebounds in 26:28 minutes. The next two high scorers came off the bench: Rondae Hollis-Jefferson with 14 points and seven rebounds; and guard Randy Foye contributed 13 points. The entire Nets bench contributed 63 points.

Up next for the Brooklyn Nets is another tough team, the Toronto Raptors on Tuesday at the Barclays Center at 7:30 p.m.