James Harden on Wednesday scored a season-high 58 points as the Houston Rockets shot an NBA-record 70 three point attempts, but it was not enough to beat the Brooklyn Nets in overtime.
Spencer Dinwiddie scored 25 of his 33 points in the fourth quarter and overtime as the Nets spoiled Harden’s night with a 145-142 win.
“The man had 60 and we won,” Dinwiddie said. “That’s big-time for a young group.”
Photo: AP
Harden had his second straight season-high after scoring 57 in a victory over Memphis on Monday. Houston made just 23 of their record 70 three-point attempts.
Harden has scored at least 30 points in 18 straight games and has reached 40 in nine of the past 12. He finished 16 of 34 from the field, made 21 of 23 free throws and had 10 rebounds and a half dozen assists.
However, he was disappointed that his team surrendered a seven-point lead in overtime.
“Frustrating. Very frustrating,” Harden said. “We were small... We had a couple of mistakes out there near the end, but give them credit, they made some big shots.”
Houston also hold the record for most three-pointers made after hitting 26 in a win over Washington this season.
Elsewhere, Kyrie Irving scored 27 points and had a career-high 18 assists as the Boston Celtics snapped a three-game losing streak with a 117-108 win over the Toronto Raptors in a battle of two Eastern Conference heavyweights.
Irving, who returned from a leg injury, hit a fadeaway jumper to give the Celtics the lead, then drained a 9m three-pointer as the Celtics closed with a 17-4 run.
“Somehow people still think I can’t pass,” Irving said. “When guys are making shots, it makes my job a lot easier.”
Irving after the game said that he called LeBron James earlier in the week to apologize for failing to understand what it is to be a team leader when they were teammates with the Cavaliers.
“I apologized for being that young player that wanted everything at his fingertips,” he said. “The responsibility of being the best player in the world and leading a team is something that’s not meant for many people. And ’Bron was one of those guys.”
In the late game, Stephen Curry scored 41 points and sank nine three-pointers as the Golden State Warriors rallied from a 17-point deficit to beat the New Orleans Pelicans 147-140.
Kevin Durant tallied 30 points and 15 rebounds, and Draymond Green had 17 points and 14 assists as the Warriors also tied a franchise record with 24 three-pointers.
The teams also set a record for combined three-pointers made in a game with 43. The previous record was 41 when Golden State faced Sacramento earlier this month.
Curry also became the first player to make eight or more threes in three consecutive games, giving him 28 threes in that span.
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