The Houston Rockets were on Thursday night clinging to a lead over the Los Angeles Lakers in the fourth quarter when James Harden told coach Mike D’Antoni he needed to come out for a bit to rest — something the reigning NBA Most Valuable Player never does.
D’Antoni was happy to fulfill Harden’s request, and the move could not have worked better for the Rockets.
Harden returned with about five minutes left to take over the game, scoring 11 points during a big run to cap a 50-point, 10-rebound and 11-assist night in a 126-111 victory.
Photo: AP
“You play 45, 46 minutes, it’s difficult on anybody in this league,” Harden said. “The guys are so talented and great, so that little period that I had to rest, came back in re-energized and ready to make good plays.”
Chris Paul was surprised when Harden asked for the break.
“It’s very rare that James or any of us would take ourselves out,” Paul said. “But ... I think that gave him that quick little breather that he needed to come in and finish it.”
Harden grabbed his 10th rebound with less than 90 seconds left to give him his second triple-double this season and the 37th of his career.
LeBron James finished with 29 points for the Lakers, who had won their previous two games.
James was unhappy that the Lakers sent Harden to the line 19 times, where he only missed once.
“You can’t put him on the line ... he’s already talented,” James said. “He can put the ball in the hole multiple ways. He can drive, step-back threes and you [cannot] give him easy points.”
Houston’s lead was three after Kyle Kuzma’s soaring dunk, but Harden was fouled on a three-pointer and made all three free throws to make it 112-106.
Harden then made three-pointers on consecutive possessions to push the lead to 12 and cause Lakers coach Luke Walton to call a timeout. James was in Harden’s face on the second one and Harden fell to the court as the ball rolled around the rim for a couple of seconds before dropping in.
“He’s a superstar and he makes tough shots,” Walton said. “But that whole thing started with us giving him three free throws.”
James added a dunk before Clint Capela and Harden made consecutive baskets to compete the 13-2 run and make it 122-108.
It was the first meeting between the teams since Paul and Rajon Rondo got into a fight on Oct. 20 that led to suspensions for both players and Brandon Ingram.
There was no altercation this time around in a game where Rondo sat out as he recovers from surgery to repair a broken right hand.
However, there was a spate of technical fouls late in the third quarter that led to the ejection of Nene.
He was called for a foul after being knocked to the ground trying to defend Kuzma as he drove to the lane. He yelled at officials and received a technical foul.
Nene made a hook shot before fouling Kuzma again on the next possession. He continued to scream at officials and was hit with a second technical foul and ejected.
Kuzma made all three foul shots and added a three-pointer with Harden in his face after a trey by Harden to leave the Lakers up 88-87 with 9.9 seconds left in the quarter.
Kuzma was called for a foul after that and Walton got a technical for arguing about that call.
Harden made the technical shot and Paul added two more free throws to leave Houston up 90-88 after three.
In Thursday’s other games, the San Antonio Spurs crushed the Los Angeles Clippers 125-87, the Orlando Magic beat the Chicago Bulls 97-91 and the Phoenix Suns defeated the Dallas Mavericks 99-89.
Additional reporting by staff writer
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