Slowly but surely, James Harden and the Houston Rockets are working out of their early-season funk.
Now if coach Kevin McHale’s group can just get healthy.
Harden and scored 22 of his season-high 43 points in the second half to lead the Rockets to a 116-110 win over the Sacramento Kings on Friday night.
“I’ve tried to be patient and take what the defences have been giving me,” Harden said. “I’ve been trying to find something, anything ... to find any rhythm I can.”
Harden went into the game shooting just 29.4 per cent from the floor but made 10 of his first 15 shots and finished with a season-high 13 assists. He finished 13-of-23 shooting and Houston won their third consecutive game.
Trevor Ariza had 18 points, including a pair of three-pointers in the fourth quarter to help Houston hold off a late run by Sacramento. Clint Capela added 13 points and 12 rebounds and former King Marcus Thornton scored 16.
The Rockets built a 15-point lead in the first quarter but had trouble closing out the struggling Kings.
“In order for us to be where we want to be, we have to play defence,” Harden said. “We knew they were going to make a run. It was a big run. But we kept our composure and came away with the win.”
Sacramento pulled within 100-94 on Rudy Gay’s three-pointer with just under 6 minutes left. Thornton and Ariza responded with back-to-back threes to help Houston pull away.
Omri Casspi had 22 points for Sacramento.
The Rockets opened the season with three straight losses but have bounced back nicely behind Harden’s recent surge. Last year’s MVP runner-up has averaged 36 points per game over his last three contests.
Houston led almost the entire game despite being without center Dwight Howard, who rested on the bench in his street clothes.
Gay finished with 15 points and five rebounds. The Kings have dropped four straight.
“The nightmare when you play Houston is you have to figure out layups and threes,” Sacramento coach George Karl said. “In the first half we did a good job covering the threes and we didn’t cover the layups. In the second half we covered the layup and didn’t cover the three.”
Elsewhere in the NBA
Cleveland Cavaliers 108, Philadelphia 76ers 102
LeBron James scored a season-high 31 points, including his 9,000th career field goal, and the Cleveland Cavaliers recorded their fifth straight victory, 108-102 over the winless Philadelphia 76ers on Friday night.
James remained in the game after taking a hard fall driving to the basket early in the fourth quarter. He was on the court for a couple of moments and limped to the bench after being checked by a trainer. James was pulled with 2:31 remaining and Cleveland (5-1) leading 104-90.
James, who scored 18 points in the third quarter, reached his latest milestone with a dunk late in the second quarter to become the 20th player in NBA history – and fifth active – to record 9,000 field goals.
Nerlens Noel and Jahlil Okafor scored 18 points each for Philadelphia (0-5).
Golden State Warriors 119, Denver Nuggets 104
Stephen Curry had 34 points and 10 assists and defending champions Golden State remained unbeaten.
Harrison Barnes scored 21 points for the Warriors and Festus Ezeli had a career-high 16 points to go with seven rebounds and two blocked shots.
At 6-0, Golden State are off to the franchise’s best start in their California era dating to 1962/63. The Warriors are three victories from tying the team’s 9-0 start in 1960/61, when they played in Philadelphia.
Klay Thompson added 18 points, six rebounds and five assists and Draymond Green added 12 points, nine rebounds and eight assists as Golden State extended their franchise-record home unbeaten streak to 22 games.
Danilo Gallinari had 25 points for Denver, who lost their third straight at Golden State and sixth in nine games overall.
LA Lakers 104, Brooklyn Nets 98
Kobe Bryant scored 18 points, his highest performance since opening night, and Los Angeles beat winless Brooklyn for their first victory of the season.
Rookie D’Angelo Russell and Jordan Clarkson each scored 16 points for the Lakers (1-4), while the Nets dropped to 0-6.
The Lakers’ 11-point lead was down to three in the final half-minute but they forced a 5-second violation on an inbounds pass. Bryant then made four straight free throws for a 102-95 lead while receiving loud cheers, as he did all night.
Brook Lopez had 23 points and 10 rebounds for the Nets, while Joe Johnson scored 22 points.
Atlanta Hawks 121, New Orleans Pelicans 115
Kyle Korver scored 22 points, hitting all four of his three-point shots, and Atlanta won their sixth straight over winless New Orleans.
Anthony Davis tied a career high with 43 points, but injury-decimated New Orleans dropped to 0-5 under new coach Alvin Gentry.
Paul Millsap also scored 22 points and grabbed 12 rebounds for Atlanta, who had six players score in double figures, shot 53.2 per cent and led by double digits for much of the game. The Hawks fended off a furious comeback attempted in the fourth quarter, when New Orleans briefly tied it.
Eric Gordon scored 22 and Ish Smith had a career-high 11 assists for the Pelicans.
Orlando Magic 92, Toronto Raptors 87
Tobias Harris had 20 points, including what turned out to be the decisive free throw, and Orlando handed Toronto their first loss of the season.
Victor Oladipo added 18 points, and reserve CJ Watson had 12 as the Magic snapped an 11-game losing streak to the Raptors.
Trailing 88-86 after Harris’s free throw, Toronto had a chance to take the lead but Jonas Valanciunas was forced to put up an awkward runner that rolled off the rim, and was rebounded by Orlando.
The loss ended what had been a franchise-best 5-0 start for Toronto.
DeMar DeRozan led the Raptors with 23 points and Kyle Lowry added 17.
Indiana Pacers 90, Miami Heat 87
Paul George scored 36 points and grabbed 12 rebounds to lead Indiana to a victory over Miami.
George, who missed almost all last season when he broke his right leg in a Team USA scrimmage, put the finishing touches on his best performance of the early season by icing the game at the free throw line with 4.1 seconds left.
Chris Bosh led the Heat with 21 points and 11 rebounds. In scoring 14 first-half points, Bosh helped the Heat build a 13-point lead. But a balanced effort by George and the bench allowed Indiana to creep back to tie the game at 49 at half-time.
Justise Winslow finished with 13 points and eight rebounds while Goran Dragic added 11 points for the Heat, who were playing the second night of a back-to-back.
Boston Celtics 118, Washington Wizards 98
Jared Sullinger scored 21 points, Isaiah Thomas added 16 points and eight assists and Boston ended a three-game losing streak by beating Washington.
Jae Crowder had 12 points and 10 rebounds, Kelly Olynyk added 19 points and Evan Turner scored 16 as the Celtics won for the first time since opening night with a dominant performance at home.
Bradley Beal led Washington with 24 points. John Wall, who fell into foul trouble early, finished with 13 points and eight assists.
Milwaukee Bucks 99, New York Knicks 92
John Hensen scored 22 points and Giannis Antetokounmpo had 20 to lift Milwaukee to a win over New York.
Carmelo Anthony led the Knicks with 17 points. Derrick Williams had 15 and Kristaps Porzingis added 14 points and 13 rebounds.
The Bucks never trailed, opening a game-high 14-point lead, 44-30, on Jerryd Bayless’s three-pointer with 7:35 left in the second quarter.
With the score tied at 81 in the fourth quarter, Milwaukee scored the next seven points and went ahead 95-86 on Khris Middleton’s three-pointer with 1:57 left.
The Knicks pulled within 95-90, but Middleton hit two free throws with 19 seconds left and New York never got closer.
Detroit Pistons 100, Phoenix Suns 92
Marcus Morris, who said he was looking to “disrespect” his former team in Phoenix and was booed every time he touched the ball early in the game, scored 20 points to help Detroit open a six-game road trip.
Morris’s twin brother Markieff had 18 points for the Suns.
Reggie Jackson scored 14 of his 23 points in the fourth quarter for Detroit and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope added 18.
Eric Bledsoe and Brandon Knight scored 22 points apiece for the Suns, who trailed throughout after the game’s early moments.
Andre Drummond had 12 points and 16 rebounds for the Pistons but was 2-of-13 from the free throw line.
The victory put Detroit at 4-1 for the first time since 2008.
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