Brooklyn @ Houston preview

Last Meeting ( Nov 1, 2019 ) Houston 116, Brooklyn 123

The Brooklyn Nets set an NBA season low in shooting percentage during Thursday's home loss to the New York Knicks and will need to find a way to score quickly with a three-game road trip on the horizon. The Nets will try to bounce back when they open the excursion by visiting the Houston Rockets on Saturday.

Brooklyn shot 26.9 percent from the floor in a 94-82 loss to the lowly Knicks on Thursday and didn't have many answers after the contest. "We were really, really bad," Nets guard Spencer Dinwiddie told reporters. "Like laughably bad. We've had different losses over the year where I've stood here and been upset. We shot probably historically bad. ... Let's go with too much eggnog. I don't know what else to tell you." The Rockets are coming off their own disappointing performance against a team at the bottom of the standings after dropping a 116-104 decision at Golden State on Christmas Day. "We've got to regroup," Houston star James Harden told reporters. "We finally get to go home. We've been on the road for a week. We finally go home and kind of get some home court."

TV: 8 p.m. ET, YES (Brooklyn), AT&T SportsNet Southwest (Houston)

ABOUT THE NETS (16-14): Brooklyn's best hope for instant offense is still not ready to return with All-Star point guard Kyrie Irving on the mend from a shoulder injury suffered in November, though Dinwiddie and company have been able to carry the load without Irving previously and won three of four before the rough performance on Thursday. Center Jarrett Allen, who leads the team in shooting percentage at 65.6, went 0-of-2 from the floor in 27 minutes on Thursday and pointed to effort as the culprit. "It's a tough task when you shoot 25 percent," Allen told reporters. "That makes playing defense harder and that makes running up and down the court harder. At the end of the day, we still have to have more effort."

ABOUT THE ROCKETS (21-10): The Christmas Day loss featured an uncharacteristic offensive performance from Harden, who was held to 24 points on 18 field-goal attempts and attempted only one free throw as the Warriors trapped at half court and kept the ball out of his hands. "That was their scheme, that was the game plan," Harden, who leads the NBA in scoring at an average of 38.1 points and is tops in free-throw attempts at 12.4, told reporters. "Looks like it worked. (We had) a lot of opportunities, a lot of great opportunities that we just didn't convert on. It's pretty simple." Harden's teammates failed to take advantage of their extra shots in the loss, with the other eight players combining to shoot 34.1 percent from the floor.

BUZZER BEATERS

1. Nets SG Caris LeVert (thumb) has been out since Nov. 10 but is reportedly getting close to a return.

2. Rockets PG Russell Westbrook went 0-of-8 from 3-point range on Wednesday after knocking down 4-of-6 over the two previous contests.

3. Brooklyn earned a 123-116 home win over Houston on Nov. 1 while shooting 49 percent from the floor and knocking down 19 3-pointers.

PREDICTION: Rockets 116, Nets 106