James Harden had 31 points, 11 rebounds and 10 assists for his second triple-double this season, leading the Houston Rockets to a 113-102 victory over the Minnesota Timberwolves on Monday night.
Harden got off to a slow start, missing his first seven shots. He got going late in the first quarter, had 13 points at halftime and was a rebound away from wrapping up his fourth career triple-double entering the fourth.
Houston led by nine at the start of the final period, but Andrew Wiggins led a charge that cut the lead to one point with less than four minutes left.
Photo: AFP
The Rockets took over after that, using a 14-2 run, with five points from Harden, to make it 111-98 with less than a minute to go.
Wiggins scored 30 for the Timberwolves, who lost for the third time in four games.
Grizzlies point guard Mike Conley scored 18 points and Jeff Green added 16 as Memphis held on to beat Los Angeles 90-87 and end the Clippers’ four-game winning streak.
Marc Gasol added 14 points and Zach Randolph had 10 rebounds as the Grizzlies improved to 15-3 since Green joined the team on Jan. 12. They won using balanced scoring with no one getting 20 points.
Chris Paul had 30 points and 10 assists for the Clippers, with Jamal Crawford scoring 15 points off the bench.
In Miami, Luol Deng made 11 of 14 shots and scored 29 points, and Goran Dragic added 23 points and 10 assists as the Heat set a season high for scoring in a 119-108 win over the Philadelphia 76ers.
Dwyane Wade scored 18 for the Heat, who stayed in the No. 7 spot in the Eastern Conference. Hassan Whiteside added 12 points and 14 rebounds for Miami, which shot for 55 percent accuracy.
Hollis Thompson scored 22 points for Philadelphia.
The Chicago Bulls downed the Milwaukee Bucks 87-71 after Tony Snell scored 20 points, and Nikola Mirotic had 16 points and a career-high 14 rebounds.
Pau Gasol added 15 points and 10 rebounds.
In other games, Alexis Ajinca capped a 16-point performance with a go-ahead layup in the final minute as the New Orleans Pelicans beat the Toronto Raptors 100-97, Trey Burke scored 23 points as the Utah Jazz beat the San Antonio Spurs 90-81, the Boston Celtics defeated the Phoenix Suns 115-110 and the Brooklyn Nets were 110-82 winners over the Denver Nuggets.
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