Rockets win fifth straight game with 126-124 win over Detroit

Posted: November 21, 2018 -- 11:59 p.m.

HOUSTON, TX (Toyota Center) -- James Harden outdueled Blake Griffin Wednesday night. In the Rockets' 126-124 victory over the Detroit Pistons, Harden scored 43 while Griffin scored 37. Harden scored 29 points in the second half. Griffin scored 23 in the second half -- including 19 in the fourth quarter.

"It was big time for us," Harden said after the game. "Obviously with P.J. (Tucker) getting kicked out of the game early, put more minutes on our guys; but, we found a way to win. It’s going to be the games like that where we’ve got to figure it out."

Tucker received two technical fouls from NBA referee Ben Taylor.

Harden now has 13,391 points in his Rockets' career, moving him past Rudy Tomjanovich (13,383) for the third-most in franchise history.

The Rockets (9-7) led 31-29 after the first quarter; but, the Pistons led 57-56 at halftime. Houston scored the first nine points of the third period to lead 65-57; however, Detroit quickly scored 8 straight to tie the game at 65 with 8:18 left in the quarter.

Harden dished to Clint Capela for an alley-oop slam dunk which began a 16-6 Rockets' run for a ten point lead (81-71). The lead increased to 12 (93-81) before the Pistons' Jon Leuer made two free throws for a 93-83 Rockets' lead after three quarters.

Harden scored 15 points in the third period -- including a perfect 10 for 10 from the foul line. In addition to the 15 points in the quarter, Harden also dished out 5 assists in the period.

The Rockets led the Pistons 105-94 at the 7:45 mark of the fourth period before the Pistons scored five consecutive points on a putback layup and making 3 of 6 free throws.

With Houston's lead cut to six, Harden made a three-point shot to boost the lead to 9. Then, Eric Gordon sank two foul shots; and, after getting fouled attempting a three-point shot, Harden made all three foul shots for a 113-99 lead with only 5 minutes 30 seconds left in the ball game.

Blake Griffin caught fire. Griffin sank back-to-back three-point shots at the top of the key to slice Houston's lead to eight (113-105).

Houston's James Ennis III made two foul shots. Griffin swished another three-point shot to trim Houston's lead to seven (115-108). Ennis III swished a corner three; but, Griffin sank two foul shots and swished a step back three-point shot to slice Houston's lead to just five points (118-113) with 2:21 remaining.

Harden scored a driving lay-up; but, once again, Griffin swished a three-point shot to cut the Rockets' lead to just four (120-116) with 86 seconds left in the game.

After Harden missed a long three-point shot, Detroit got the rebound; but, Harden stole a pass by Griffin. Plus, Harden saved the ball from going out of bounds and Houston maintained possession.

The Rockets did not score on the possession; but, after Harden's missed three-point shot, only 28.3 seconds were left in the game.

Detroit called timeout. After the timeout, Griffin had the ball and was whistled for an offensive foul when he did a reverse dribble and made contact with James Ennis III.

The Pistons fouled Harden. Harden made both free throws to put Houston ahead 122-116 with 19.1 seconds remaining. Detroit's Ish Smith launched a tough three-point shot and got a friendly bounce. Smith's basket cut the Rockets' lead to 122-119 with 9.6 seconds on the clock.

After a Rockets' timeout, Harden was fouled. Harden made both free throws. Detroit launched a long inbounds pass to Griffin; and, Griffin was fouled by Houston's Chris Paul. Griffin went to the line for three fouls shots. He made the first two and intentionally missed the third foul shot.

"Blake (Griffin) got hot down the stretch; and, I had a terrible foul there," Chris Paul said in the locker room. "I don't know why I did that, but it was good for us. As we keep saying, it's just about us piling up wins."

Harden grabbed the missed foul shot and was fouled. He made both free throws for a 126-121 lead with 2.9 seconds remaining. Detroit's Reggie Bullock sank a three-point shot at the buzzer for the final score.

"We just didn't play very smart tonight," Rockets Head Mike D'Antoni said after the game. "I don't know how many fouls, we just gave up points and just silly stuff. We got to cure that real quickly. That's the only disappointments; we fought hard."

NOTES:

Clint Capela had a season-high 27 points with 15 rebounds and 4 blocks tonight after having 23 points, 16 rebounds and 4 blocks vs. Sacramento on 11/17. The last Rocket to record at least 20 points, 15 rebounds and 4 blocks in consecutive games was Hakeem Olajuwon on 11/11-11/13/93. Over the past two games, Capela is shooting 23-of-28 from the floor.

Chris Paul had 20 points on 8-of-16 shooting tonight. Over the past five games, he is averaging 20.2 ppg on 56.7% shooting after averaging 10.7 ppg on 33.3% shooting the four games prior. Paul has scored 20+ points in four of the past five games. The Rockets are 6-0 when he scores 20 or more this season after going 23-2 in 2017-18.

James Ennis had 14 points on 3-of-5 shooting tonight. Over the past four games, he is averaging 13.8 ppg on 64.3% shooting after averaging 6.3 ppg on 39.2% shooting over his first nine games played. The Rockets are 5-0 when Ennis scores in double-figures this season.

NEXT

The Rockets' next game is Friday, November 21, on the road, versus the Detroit Pistons. Game time is 6 p.m.

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