Harden takes over, sends Rockets past Kings

With the way James Harden was closing out quarters Thursday, even a double-digit deficit wasn’t enough to keep the Houston Rockets from another road win.

Harden scored 44 points, including 12 in overtime, in a 113-109 victory over the Sacramento Kings at Sleep Train Arena.

Harden, the NBA’s leading scorer, scored Houston’s first 10 points of the extra session. His nice drive and lay up put the Rockets up for good at the 4:45 mark of overtime, but the sixth-year guard was just getting started. Harden drained a 3-pointer, then added another driving lay up and Houston held a 102-95 advantage a minute and a half into the period.

Meanwhile, Sacramento (11-12) didn’t record its first overtime field goal until Rudy Gay hit a three to make it a 105-99 game with 1:07 to go. That snapped a field goal drought of nearly five and a half minutes for the hosts, who eventually trimmed the deficit to two points at 111-109 after Darren Collison hit a three with seven seconds to play.

Of course, it was Harden’s night, and he sealed the Rockets’ fourth consecutive win in the series with a 4-for-4 stretch from the free-throw line over the final 12 seconds.

Harden, who has scored 70 points in two wins over the Kings this season, saved Houston (17-5, including 9-2 on the road) at the end of regulation as well. Sacramento saw its 12-point second-half lead whittled down to three at 95-92, and after Gay missed from behind the arc, Harden calmly knocked down the tying three with 20 seconds to go in the fourth. Gay, who shot 4-of-18 from the field, missed a potential go-ahead pull-up jumper with one second to play.

Houston tied the game on two other occasions over the final two and a half minutes of regulation. First, Harden’s pretty crossover led to a dunk and made it 88-88, then Gay hit an off-balanced leaner to give the lead back to Sacramento.

Trevor Ariza, who along with patrick Beverley added 15 points for the Rockets, hit a bucket to even things up at 90-90. But on the other end, Derrick Williams drained a 3-pointer and after two free throws the Kings led 95-90 at the 1:12 mark.

Ariza hit two free throws, which preceded Harden’s clutch shot.

The end of the third also belonged to Harden. With the Kings up 65-53 after a 10-0 run, which included a beautiful finish for a lay up by Ben McLemore on an alley-oop pass from Collison, Harden scored eight straight Rockets’ points over the final three minutes to make it a 69-61 game heading into the fourth.

Houston, which is still without Dwight Howard (knee injury), had made just 6-of-27 from behind the arc through three quarters, but go hot in the fourth. The visitors hit half of their 14 three-point attempts over the final 12 minutes of regulation, including two each from reserves Jason Terry and Troy Daniels. Collison, who led the Kings with 24 points, had a strong drive and lay up and followed that with a nice, pull-up jumper from the foul line and the Kings led 87-81 at the 5:22 mark. Sacramento would hit only two more shots the rest of the period.

For the Kings, who are also missing a star big man in Demarcus Cousins (viral meningitis), McLemore scored 21 points and Williams added 17 off the bench.

Oklahoma City 103, Cleveland 94

Kevin Durant scored 19 points, including his team’s final eight as the Thunder won their fourth consecutive game.

Oklahoma City (9-13) held just a four-point lead before Durant, recovered from an ankle injury and playing in his fifth game of the season, put the visiting Cavaliers away. He had a dunk off a pass from Russell Westbrook - one of Westbrook’s eight assists, then stole the ball from Kyrie Irving and hit a beautiful fade-away jumper from the foul line and Oklahoma City led 99-91 with 1:16 to play.

Kevin Love hit two free throws to pull Cleveland to within 99-93, but it would get no closer.

The Cavaliers, playing without LeBron James (sore left knee) for the first time this season, led 54-53 three minutes into the second half. The Thunder answered with a 14-3 run as five different players scored during a spurt that put the hosts up 67-57 with about four minutes to play in the third.

Durant fed Anthony Morrow for a 3-pointer, which capped a quick, 8-0 run to start the fourth and Oklahoma City had its largest lead of the night at 86-66.

It was still an 11-point cushion at 93-82 when Durant assisted on Steven Adams’ short jumper at the 4:22 mark. Cleveland didn’t quit and Irving, who led the Cavaliers with 20 points, had a lay up and two free throws during a 10-2 run that made it a 95-91 game and forced an Oklahoma City timeout.

Westbrook, in his sixth game back in the lineup after suffering a hand injury, had his sixth straight 20-point game and led all scorers with 26 points. Love scored 18 points and three others had 14 points each for Cleveland (13-8), which had its eight-game winning streak snapped.

Story