PHILADELPHIA — No one, least of all Jeremy Lin, would be so presumptuous to call it a last laugh. But it is fair to say that Lin has earned, at the expense of his former team and its impetuous owner, a well-timed chortle.

Ever the spiritual man, Lin, reflecting on what now appears to be a prosperous relocation from New York to Houston, said, “I do believe God has the perfect plan.” As it turns out, the fast-track building strategy hatched a couple of years ago by Daryl Morey, the Rockets’ general manager, was not so bad, either.

Two nights after scoring 31 points off the bench, Lin started and rang up 34 points and 12 assists, but he and the Rockets, without James Harden, wilted late and dropped a 123-117 overtime decision to the 76ers on Wednesday night at Wells Fargo Center. Next stop: Madison Square Garden on Thursday night for an appointment with the Knicks.

With Lin as Houston’s premier offensive threat Wednesday, the Rockets looked like what they were supposed to be when the Knicks let him go as a free agent in the summer of 2012. Lin said that when he signed with Houston, he did not expect that Harden and Dwight Howard would be his teammates.