Nets beat Rockets in Houston for their first win in eight tries

Corks weren't popping off bottles of the expensive stuff and the bubbly wasn't flowing freely, even if there was something to celebrate.

Two weeks of penned up frustration was gone, replaced a feeling the Nets hadn't experienced during their season-opening seven-game losing streak. The elusive victory they had been desperately seeking was theirs, halting their march toward a record they wanted no part of.

Overcoming a sluggish third-quarter start and making all the critical plays down the stretch for once, the Nets rode their best three-point shooting effort of the season and finished off the Rockets for a gritty 106-98 victory at Toyota Center Wednesday night.

"We really needed this win to get a little bit of pressure off of our shoulders," said Bojan Bogdanovic, who led the Nets with a season-high 22 points. "We knew that we are not a team [that should've been] 0-7. We were in ever game, 'til now was the first time we didn't have like back holes in our game. So that is the biggest reason why we won today."

Bogdanovic spearheaded the Nets' three-point attack, starting the second half in place of Rondae Hollis-Jefferson after Nets coach Lionel Hollins elected to have Joe Johnson guard Rockets superstar James Harden instead.

Brooklyn (1-7) hadn't been shooting the ball well from beyond the arc, but canned 8 of 17 attempts while the usually hot-shooting Rockets connected on 8 of 34 attempts.

Registering a season-high 56 bench points compared to Houston's 15 and outworking the Rockets (4-4) to the tune of 33 second-chance points propelled the Nets to the stunner. Even a struggling Shane Larkin got into the act, powering the Nets' reserves and scoring a season-high 15 points to go with eight rebounds.

"We played our most complete game of the season and obviously it's good to get that first one," said Brook Lopez, who recorded his fourth double-double of the season by pumping in 14 points and snatching 12 rebounds. "It's a breakthrough and we've got a great game from pretty much the entirety of our squad. Everyone that played gave us great minutes and guys like T-Rob [Thomas Robinson], [Andrea] Bargnani, Shane, they all came in and did their part. It was a great team win."

Larkin looked like a different player, asserting himself in the decisive fourth quarter. He played all but 1:49 of the final 12 minutes, posting five points and six rebounds, and figured it was time to change things up because what he was doing during the first seven games didn't work.

"Just not being as aggressive as I should be," Larkin said. "The last couple of games, I've been trying to do that. Didn't make shots in Milwaukee, but still took them. So I think that's something I'm going to continue doing and see how it works out."

Harden led Houston, which had its four-game winning streak snapped, with 23 points and nine rebounds. But he couldn't completely carry the Rockets, who were outscored by the Nets 27-15 in the final quarter.

"It's good to get one, especially it being out on the road," Johnson said. "Tough little West Coast trip. So for us to come in this environment against a team that has been playing really well and get a win, I mean it's big. It's huge for us. Huge for our confidence and hopefully we can put a couple of more together."