Harden's free throw with 0.1 remaining give Rockets 93-92 win over Mavs

Posted: October 30, 2016 -- 11:39 pm CDT.

Houston, TX (Toyota Center) -- The Houston Rockets defeated the Dallas Mavericks 93-92 Sunday night for the Rockets second win over the Mavs this young season. Tonight's win had much more drama than the Rockets' Friday win in Dallas over the Mavs.

James Harden split two free throws (missed the first, made the second) with 0.1 second remaining in the game to break the 92-all tie and give the Rockets a 2-1 record this season.

After receiving a pass from Nene, Harden attacked the basket and picked up the sixth foul on Dallas' Wesley Matthews.

Nene received the inbound pass from Trevor Ariza with 4.1 seconds on the clock.

The play was similar to the play the Rockets ran in the first half which resulted in a Harden layup to beat the halftime buzzer.

"Well, at the end of the first half, we were in the same (situation) more or less," said Rockets head coach Mike D'Antoni about the play which resulted in Harden's two free throw attempts. "And, James got a layup. And, we went back to that. He (Harden) was covered; but, Nene got him and made a great pass to James; and, he got in the lane and got fouled."

The Rockets began the game with a 34 point first quarter and a nine (34-25) point lead at the end of the opening period.

Nene scored a team-high 9 points in the first period followed by Harden's 7 points and Eric Gordon's 6 points.

The Rockets shot 59.1% (13 for 22) from the floor and handed out six assists.

The offense continued clicking in the second quarter. Gordon scored 6 more points while Ryan Anderson and Sam Dekker each added six points. Dekker's points came from his first two made three-point baskets in his young NBA career.

The Rockets outscored the Mavs 29-28 in the quarter and led the Mavs 63-53 at halftime. The Rockets made 25 field goals in the half (out of 45 attempts. Twelve of the baskets came from assists.

Both teams struggled to make field goals in the third quarter: the Rockets made just 4 of 18 field goal attempts while the Mavs sank just 6 of their 21 field goal attempts.

The Rockets and Mavs combined for 34 points in the third period - evenly splitting the points 17 a piece.

With a ten point lead (80-70) entering the fourth quarter, Clint Capela began the scoring in the fourth period with an alley-oop slam dunk from a pass from new teammate Tyler Ennis.

The Mavs answered with back-to-back three-point baskets: one from Justin Anderson and the other from J.J. Barea.

Wesley Matthews sliced the Rockets' lead to just four points (84-80) with 6:14 remaining in the fourth period. Harden responded with a running lay-up and a three-point basket to boost the lead to 89-80 with 4:06 remaining.

Barea splashed his third three-point shot attempt; and, Matthews scored 4 consecutive points to reduce the Rockets' lead to 89-87 with three plus minutes remaining.

After a timeout, Trevor Ariza dished to a cutting Nene for a lay-up. However, with 1:13 remaining in the former Golden State Warrior forward Harrison Barnes, sank 2 free throws to reduce the Rockets' lead to two points (91-89).

Harden split two free throws with 62 seconds remaining.

Neither team scored for nearly one minute before Wesley Matthews tied the game with a long three-point bucket.

The Rockets called timeout to set up the eventual game-winning free throw by Harden.

After 12 assists in the first half, the Rockets only had 4 assists in the second half.

Harden scored a game-high 28 points; but, he made just 8 of his 23 field goal attempts. Eric Gordon and Ryan Anderson each scored 14 points. Gordon made 1 of 8 field goal attempts in the second half. Anderson added a team-high 12 rebounds. Nene scored 11 points off the bench.

The Rockets head to Cleveland Tuesday night to begin a five-game road trip.

"We gotta play Cleveland and be ready," D'Antoni said. "Then, we have New York on Wednesday and have to be ready. They (his players) know. They are professionals; and, we're not old; so, there is no reason for us not to be ready."

CLICK HERE for The HRR's Rockets' write-ups.