Down three-fifths of their starting lineup, the Nets suffered a wire-to-wire 120-96 beating by the Rockets before a sellout crowd of 18,003 at Barclays Center. 

The Nets were missing eight players, including starters Michael Porter Jr., Egor Dëmin and Terance Mann. Arguably just as notable was the fact that, despite their decimated state, Cam Thomas still wasn’t starting — and his reaction to his continued reserve role. 

Right out of the gate, the Nets endured a 12-2 blitz and sent coach Jordi Fernández scurrying for a timeout. It didn’t help. 

Then the Nets surrendered a 21-7 second-quarter run and trailed by double digits for the final 28 minutes of the game. 

Thomas led the Nets with 21 points, 15 of which came during a garbage-time second half. 

Granted, he only had one assist and four turnovers and got picked on defensively by former mentor Kevin Durant (22 points, 11 assists). And yes, a minutes limit restricted him to just 22:41 in his third game back from a hamstring strain. 

But was it frustrating to have to come off bench while the Nets’ green lineup got lit up? 

“No comment,” Thomas said with a smile, after a long pregnant pause. 

With the Nets playing Friday in Washington — and the statuses of Porter, Dëmin and Mann up in the air — it’s unclear how long Fernández intends to use Thomas off the bench. 

“Pretty efficient game offensively. Not so much with the turnovers; right there you’ve got to be cleaner,” Fernández said. “And then the defensive end, got to be [better] with coverages and so on and so forth. But good scoring points with the minutes he’s playing right now. 

“And the most important thing is how his body responds now after all those games, our third game which is important for what he’s going through. And so far, happy with obviously his superpower is his scoring; but once again, I need better defense, I need better play-making.” 

No other Net mustered more than 14 points, as they shot just 44.7 percent and 10-for-33 from 3-point range. 

The Nets allowed 57.3 percent shooting, with Houston’s Amen Thompson scoring a game-high 23 on 10-for-12 shooting and Alperen Sengun adding 21. 

The Nets (10-21) sit fifth in the lottery odds, percentage points ahead of the Hornets. They’re 2½ games behind the fourth-place Wizards. 

Ziaire Williams had 14 points, while rookies Drake Powell and Danny Wolf got their first career starts. 

“I trust [Powell and Wolf] trying to do the right things. Their intentions have always been great. I need them to be aggressive. I need them to be more decisive,” Fernández said. “It’s a little bit of the growing pains. I think they did an OK job. I know they can be much better. And that’s why my standards for all of them are always going to be high because we believe they can be special.” 

Wolf had nine points, five assists and four rebounds, though he did brick a 3-pointer that bounced and hit Durant in the face, the Rockets star jokingly telling Wolf it was a “trash miss.” 

But Durant was serious when praising protege Thomas and hoping the free agent-to-be finds a team that will build around him. 

“I feel like Cam has a bright future. It just takes somebody to believe in his talent and his skill,” Durant said. “Scorers and guys that score the basketball at a high rate, they get taken for granted in this league a bit. We’re so used to loving defenders and playmakers and guys that can be connectors, sometimes scorers get taken for granted. 

“So hopefully, somebody takes a chance on Cam and gives him what he deserves and puts the ball in his hands, and builds around him and lets him grow into a player because what is he, 24? Still got a lot of time in this league to keep getting better. So hopefully, a team puts some trust in him.”