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Sunday, Apr. 1 8:00pm ET
If Houston had a playoff hope, it just dwindled

RECAP | BOX SCORE | GAME FLOW

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. (AP) – The Houston Rockets can just about kiss the playoffs good-bye, and they have no one to blame but themselves after losing to the lowly New Jersey Nets.

Lucious Harris gave New Jersey the lead with an off-balance tip-in with 1:11 to play and the injury-riddled Nets beat the Rockets 101-98 Sunday night.

"This game tonight hurt us," said Rockets guard Steve Francis, whose game-tying 3-point attempt from the left wing bounced off the back of the rim, spoiling a 28-point performance. "We really needed this game going back home."

Houston (40-34) is now 3½ games behind Minnesota (43-30) in the race for the eighth and final playoff berth in the Western Conference. The Timberwolves beat Portland 99-95 earlier Sunday.

"It was desperate before tonight," said Houston forward Matt Bullard. "This loss makes it even more desperate, especially with Minnesota winning.

"The teams that make the playoffs win the big games," Bullard added. "Minnesota went to Portland and won today. We were in New Jersey and we didn't. Maybe we don't deserve to make the playoffs, if we can't win a game like this."

Keith Van Horn had 19 points to lead the Nets, including two free throws with 6.1 seconds to play that forced Francis to take a 3-pointer. Johnny Newman added 17 points, Doug Overton had 16, Aaron Williams 15 and Harris 13, including two big baskets in the final 1:38.

"I really thought that at the beginning of the game that Houston, for whatever reason, was taking us a little lightly and probably should have been up by 15 points or so because we weren't playing well at all," Nets coach Byron Scott said.

Cuttino Mobley had 19 points, Shandon Anderson 14 and Hakeem Olajuwon 10 for the Rockets, who made only one of their final 10 shots from the field while turning the ball over three times. Nine of the Rockets' final 11 points came from the foul line, six courtesy of some questionable foul calls after apparent blocks by Williams.

"We should have -- no disrespect to them -- beat them by a nice margin," added Mobley. "We came out like it was a walk in the park. We were not aggressive at all."

Mobley's two free throws after one of those foul calls and his driving layup with 1:26 to go gave the Rockets their last two ties, the final one at 95 with 1:26 to play.

Newman missed a drive from the left wing, but Harris jumped over Anderson and made a left-handed tip-in to give the Nets a 97-95 lead.

"We're always trying to crash the boards," Williams said of Harris' big play. "He got a hand on it and tipped it in. We needed that, the way things were going down the stretch with some of those calls."

Harris stripped Mobley on a drive to the basket on the Rockets' next trip up court and Newman made two more free throws for a 99-95 lead with 37.7 seconds left.

After Mobley made one of two free throws with 32.4 seconds left, Francis got the Rockets to one down by adding two more free throws after being fouled on a drive with 7.5 seconds to play following a Newman turnover.

However, Van Horn hit his two free throws and Francis missed his chance to tie the game.

Game notes
The Rockets are now 7-25 trailing after three. ... The defeat was only the fifth for Houston in 29 games against Eastern Conference teams. ... Houston missed 11 free throws in the game, making 29. New Jersey was 21-23 from the foul line. ... Harris was called for a technical with 1:14 left in the third quarter and he complained so much he was close to getting a second. ... The Nets' victory was only their fourth in the last 17 games against Houston dating to the 1992-93 season. ... Van Horn and Williams both had 10 rebounds for New Jersey and each finished with a double-double. Van Horn has seven this season and Williams 12.

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RECAPS
Philadelphia 104
Indiana 93

Charlotte 80
Boston 79

Minnesota 99
Portland 95

Utah 92
Vancouver 73

New York 79
LA Lakers 78

Orlando 104
Toronto 101

Detroit 104
Golden State 87

New Jersey 101
Houston 98

Phoenix 106
Milwaukee 99

Dallas 119
Sacramento 107


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