Harden's 50 points barely enough for Rockets to defeat Sixers

Posted: November 27, 2015 -- 11:15 pm.

HOUSTON, TX (Toyota Center) -- The Houston Rockets nearly hit rock bottom Friday night.

Nearly.

Trailing the winless (0-16) Philadelphia 76ers by seven points (104-97) with 6:41 remaining in the game, the Rockets seemed to be destined to become the first team to lose to the woeful Sixers in the 2015-'16 NBA season.

However, thanks to James Harden's heroics and the Sixers collapse down the stretch, the Rockets eked out a 116-114 win Friday night.

"In past situations this year, we didn’t handle those situations well. Teams went from 7 point leads to 15 point leads in those situations," said interim-head coach J.B. Bickerstaff. "There’s a growing belief in that locker room from our guys, that they can do the things that they needed to do to win. We’ve got pieces in there, but for them to come out and get stops the way that they did, make the shots that we needed, there’s a boost, it is a pick me up. We could have folded easily, but that’s not the nature of this group. So I was happy about that."

The fact Harden needed to score 50 points tonight indicates the Rockets (6-10) still have not found the winning formula this season.

Clint Capela was inserted into the starting lineup. Capela, Dwight Howard, Trevor Ariza, Harden, and Patrick Beverley set a solid defensive tone in the first quarter.

"On defense, I feel more comfortable," Capela said. "I feel like, when I have Dwight (Howard) by my side, we have length and we are more dominant. This was why the coach was asking to dominate on the rebounds. This is real important for us."

The Rockets limited the Sixers to just 19 points in the first quarter and led 30-19 after the first 12 minutes.

The defense began to leak in the second quarter as the Sixers shot 10 for 21 from the floor (5 for 11 three-pointers). Porous defense and 7 turnovers kept the Rockets from pulling away from the Sixers.

The Rockets led 56-49 at halftime.

In the third quarter, the poor defense continued as well as carelessness with the basketball. The Rockets committed 7 more turnovers in the third quarter; and, the Sixers shot 50 percent from the floor (12 for 24 twos and 6 for 12 threes). However, James Harden scored 16 of the Rockets' 35 points in the third period to help the Rockets take a 91-80 lead into the fourth quarter.

The Rockets began the fourth period with 3 turnovers and shoddy defense; and, in the blink of an eye, the Sixers outscored the Rockets 13-2 to tie the game at 93 with 9:52 remaining in the fourth quarter.

"The defense for us wasn’t as good after the first quarter," Dwight Howard said. "(In the) first quarter we had really good defense, and then the next three quarters we allowed them to score too many points. They (The 76ers) got their confidence up; they shot a lot of threes, drives to the basket. We’ve got to do a much better job of not allowing teams to get so many open shots like that."

Harden assisted on a three-point basket by Corey Brewer which gave the Rockets a 96-93 lead; but, two more turnovers and three missed field goals enabled the Sixers to go on a 11-1 run in 2 and half minutes to lead 104-97 with 6:41 remaining.

The next three minutes the Sixers regressed to their 0-16 status and Harden scored seven straight points to tie the game at 104. Then, Harden scored 5 of the Rockets next seven points to boost the lead to 112-106 with 2:26 left in the game.

However, the Rockets did not put the Sixers away as Howard and Harden each missed two free throws as the Sixers scored four straight to creep within two points (112-110) with 34.9 seconds on the clock.

After Harden missed a step back 19-foot jump shot, Dwight Howard grabbed the huge offensive rebound and was fouled. Howard, surprisingly, made both free throws for a 114-110 lead 32.6 seconds remaining.

Philadelphia's Jerami Grant split two free throws; then, Harden split two free throws for a 115-111 lead. Next, with only 6.2 seconds remaining, Corey Brewer, inexplicably, fouled Philly's Hollis Thompson while Thompson attempted a three-point shot. Thompson made the first two free throws but missed the third. Harden snared the missed shot and was fouled.

Once again, Harden split the two free throws; but, with a 116-113 lead, the Rockets fouled Robert Covington with 2.9 seconds remaining. Covington made the first free throw; however, since the Sixers were out of timeouts, Covington intentionally missed the second free throw. Dwight Howard grabbed the rebound and dribbled out the clock.

In the Rockets six wins this season, Harden is averaging 41.5 points per game. Harden is the first player to score 50+ points against the Sixers since Michael Jordan had 52 on November 16, 1988.  Harden also had 9 rebounds and 8 assists tonight.  Dating back to 1985-86, it is just the seventh time a player has recorded 50+ points, 9+ rebounds and 8+ assists in a single game.

In the first quarter, we did a tremendous job of holding them under 20 points," Harden said. "The rest of the game, we just let up and that’s how they got confidence. They started making shots, it’s hard to slow them down after that."

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