James Harden and the Houston Rockets are at their best when they are knocking down three-pointers, getting points in the paint and racking up points at the foul line.
They did all three against the Boston Celtics and it added up to a mostly easy outing against a team that is continuing to struggle.
Harden on Sunday had 42 points before fouling out late in the fourth quarter as Houston held on to beat Boston 115-104 for their fifth straight victory.
Photo: Winslow Townson-USA Today
Harden made six three-pointers and scored 40 or more points for the 24th time this season.
Houston entered the day in fifth place in the Western Conference standings, a game behind fourth-placed Oklahoma City.
Eric Gordon added 32 points and had eight three-pointers.
“We’re finally healthy, so yeah. It feels good,” Harden said. “We winning, guys know their roles, we’re executing defensively, we’re helping each other out, we’re talking. That’s all it’s about.”
Boston have lost five of six since returning from the All-Star break.
Kyrie Irving led the Celtics with 24 points, nine rebounds and six assists. Al Horford finished with 19 points.
Boston did a decent job trying to contain Harden, limiting him to 14 of 31 shooting from the field and nine free-throw attempts, but the Celtics were inefficient when they had the ball, shooting 48 percent (37 of 77) for the game and 29 percent (eight of 28) from beyond the arc.
The Celtics started the fourth quarter with a 17-6 run to cut what had been a 28-point deficit to 106-96 with 6 minutes, 8 seconds to play.
Terry Rozier got fouled on a three-pointer at the five-minute mark, but missed all three free throws.
It was 109-100 when Nene’s rebound gave Houston a second opportunity after a Gordon miss. It wound up in Harden’s hands, and he stepped back and swished his final three-pointer of the game to push the lead back up to 12.
However, leading 112-104 Harden fouled out when he was called for an offensive foul with 1:44 left.
The Celtics came up empty on their next trip down the floor and they were forced to foul after failing to corral Austin Rivers’ miss from deep.
Boston earned their first victory since the All-Star break on Friday last week against Washington, but on Sunday the Celtics fell back into many of the same bad habits that had caused them to lose four straight prior to the win over the Wizards.
Horford said he could not point to just one thing as the main culprit of their issues right now.
“We’ve had some good moments, but right now, unfortunately, we’re going through a really bad stretch,” Horford said. “This is when our group needs to make sure that we stay together.”
Things do not get any easier for Boston, who play their next four on the road.
The trip out west begins with a matchup against Golden State and ends with games against the Lakers and Clippers.
Also on Sunday, it was:
‧ Pistons 112, Raptors 107, OT
‧ Thunder 99, Grizzlies 95
‧ Hawks 123, Bulls 118
‧ Clippers 128, Knicks 107
‧ Trail Blazers 118, Hornets 108
‧ Cavaliers 107, Magic 93
‧ Wizards 135, Timberwolves 121
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