Rockets beat Bulls, 93-89

Posted: November 21, 2012 -- 11:53pm CST.

HOUSTON, TX (Toyota Center) – James Harden scored 28 points. Patrick Patterson scored 20 and added eight rebounds. Chandler Parsons added 18 points and a career-high 13 rebounds. However, guard Toney Douglas' performance in the fourth quarter was a key factor in the Rockets' 93-89 defeat of the Chicago Bulls Wednesday night in front of 15,950 fans.

Douglas scored all 11 of his points in the fourth quarter; but, his defense down the stretch against Bulls' guard Nate Robinson was huge, too.

Robinson scored a team-high 21 points for the Bulls (5-6); and, at times, he had his way with Rockets' guard Jeremy Lin for much of the second half; therefore, with 3:22 remaining in the game, Coach Kelvin Sampson put Douglas into the game to match up with Robinson.

"I felt like Toney gave us our best chance to win," Sampson said after the game. "He was a better match up with Nate (Robinson)."

Douglas helped the Rockets (5-7) erase an 84-81 deficit down the stretch. After Parsons sank two free throws, Douglas drained a three-point shot, with 71 seconds left in the game, to put the Rockets ahead 86-84.

“Toney stepped up big time for us," said Patterson. "He came in and guarded Nate Robinson extremely well, I thought. He ran the offensive sets. He hit some clutch shots and he hit that big 3 (pointer). He stepped into it with tremendous confidence and he knocked it down, nothing but net.”

Harden added, "He had the courage to step up into that shot and shoot it. That's what we need. We need different guys to step up different nights and make big plays."

After the go-ahead three-point basket, Douglas continued playing solid defense against Robinson and forced Robinson to commit a turnover with only 30.9 seconds remaining.

Douglas added four free throws in the final 17.4 seconds to ice the game.

Douglas said winning the game was very important.

“It was very important," Douglas said. "We lost three in a row coming off the road and anytime you play at home that's an important game. You gotta win your home games no matter who you play. Our goal is to get to the playoffs and go from there so I think in coming back home and redeeming ourselves, we did a pretty good job.”

The Rockets turned the ball over 23 times (6 by Harden, 5 by Lin, 20 by the starters). In addition to the turnovers, the Bulls muscled and hustled their way to 16 offensive rebounds. However, the Rockets (keyed by Douglas' effort on both ends of the court), pulled out a well-earned victory.

The Rockets host the New York Knicks (Douglas and Lin's former team) Friday night at 7pm.

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