Harden's near triple-double and Capela's 22 points lead Rockets over Pacers

Posted: November 29, 2017 -- 10:59 pm CST.

HOUSTON, TX (Toyota Center) -- The Houston Rockets struggled to make shots in the first quarter and trailed the Indiana Pacers 27-22; but, a strong second quarter kickstarted the offense and led to a 118-97 victory Wednesday night in front of an announced crowd of 16,760.

James Harden shot 3 for 9 from the floor in the first quarter and missed all three of his three-point attempts. As a team, the Rockets made just 10 of 26 field goal attempts in the opening quarter. The Pacers blocked 7 shots in the first period.

The Pacers did not block one shot in the second quarter; and, the Rockets shot 55.6% (10 for 18) from the floor to win the second period 32-22 and take a 54-49 lead into halftime.

"I think James found his rhythm which obviously is going to help (the offense); and, it's very rare that he wouldn't find it," said Mike D'Antoni after the game.

The Pacers tied the game twice early in the third quarter; but, Ryan Anderson swished a three-point shot to give the Rockets a 59-56 lead.

The Rockets (17-4) never trailed the rest of the game.

Trevor Ariza nailed back-to-back threes during an 8-0 run to boost the lead to 67-58. After the Pacers pulled within 72-66, James Harden nailed his first three-point shot of the game (after six misses). Then, Harden sank two free throws and two more threes. Plus, P.J. Tucker sank two threes as the Rockets finished the quarter with a 17-5 run and lead 89-71 after three quarters.

The Pacers scored the first seven points of the fourth quarter to pull within 11 points; and, the Pacers got as close 10 (94-84) with 7:54 on the clock. Capela made 2 free throws to begin a 16-4 run to put the game out of reach.

"I thought we just kept coming on, coming on, coming on. Pretty soon somethings got to give," D'Antoni added. Trevor hit some big shots; P.J. hit a couple of threes; James got back on; C.P. hit a dagger three when we were struggling a little bit. So, everybody kind of contributed; and, we just wore them down a little bit."

With tonight's in, the Rockets have won six straight and improve to 17-4 which is the third-best start in franchise history; and, the best start since going 19-2 in the 1996-'97.

Houston finishes November with a 12-1 record which is the third time in franchise history the Rockets have recorded one loss or gone unbeaten in November (14-0 in '93-'94 and 15-1 in '96-'97). Houston outscored opponents by average of 16.8 points in November. The last time a team had a higher point differential in November was the 1963-'64 Boston Celtics at 16.833.

The Rockets averaged 119.8 points per game in November and is 12-1 when scoring 110 plus points this season after going 43-5 in 2016-'17. The Rockets have held the opposition below 100 points in five of the past nine games after doing so four times the first 12 games of the season (8-1 mark overall). Houston was 18-0 when holding opponents below 100 points in the 2016-'17 season.

"We're never satisfied," said James Harden. "We have a long way to go. There are going to be a lot of ups and downs. Right now, we are playing pretty well. Now, we're going to go on the road continue to do what we're doing."

Harden finished the game with 29 points and 10 assists. He averaged 34.9 points per game and 10.1 assists per game for the month of November. According to ESPN Stats & Information, Harden finished one point shy this month of joining Oscar Robertson and Nate "Tiny" Archibald as the only players to have averaged at least 35.0 ppg and 10.0 apg in a single month.

Clint Capela scored 22 points and pulled down 13 boards tonight after scoring 20 points versus Brooklyn Monday night. Capela's back-to-back 20 plus point games are the first time his accomplished that feat in his NBA career.

Ryan Anderson scored 19 points on 6 for 11 field goals overall (5 for 9 threes). Over the past three games, all three at home, Anderson averaged 16.3 ppg on 54.8% shooting (52.2% on 3s) after averaging 7.3 ppg on 38.0% shooting (28.9% 3s) his first seven games at Toyota Center this season.

The Rockets next game is on the road Sunday, December 3, versus the Los Angeles Lakers. Tip is set for 8:30 p.m.

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