James Harden was forced to carry an almost impossible load on offense for big stretches of this season while many of the Houston Rockets were out with injuries. Now that the Rockets are at full strength, Harden is enjoying seeing his teammates shine on offense and helping Houston make a late push for the top spot in the Western Conference.
Harden on Monday scored 28 points and Eric Gordon added 22 as the Rockets cruised to their season-high ninth straight win, 118-106 over the Charlotte Hornets.
“It was a total team effort,” Harden said.
Photo: Troy Taormina-USA Today
The Rockets, whose 11-14 start had them in the basement of the conference standings, now sit in third place, just three-and-a-half games behind the Warriors, who they meet next.
A night after Gordon ended a streak of 43 straight games where Harden led the team in scoring, the Beard was Houston’s top scorer again, but Gordon had another strong outing, making five three-pointers for the third straight game and the fourth in five games.
Harden, who leads the NBA with 36.2 points a game, was asked if it is a relief not to have to carry the offense every night now that stars such as Clint Capela and Chris Paul have returned from extended absences.
“Yeah,” he said. “I just take what the defense gives me. Making shots or missing shots, I’ll take the same shots every single game ... and I got off the ball and multiple guys got open shots. I don’t really try to press anything. I just try to take what they give me and be effective.”
The Rockets won despite a big performance by Kemba Walker, who finished with 40 points, 10 rebounds and seven assists as the Hornets lost their second straight game.
“For him to come in here and compete at this stage without a lot of his guys out there on the floor says a lot about his character, and who he is as a person and as a leader,” Charlotte coach James Borrego said.
Houston led by as many as 28 in the third quarter, but a big run by the Hornets cut the lead to 13 at the start of the fourth.
Rockets coach Mike D’Antoni was a bit disappointed that his team let Charlotte get back in it after building such a huge lead.
“Maybe it’s a new reality and maybe players need to get used to that — that you can’t take your foot off the pedal,” D’Antoni said.
Walker was encouraged that the Hornets kept fighting, despite the early hole.
“I’m not a big fan of moral victories, but hopefully we can build off this, especially as far as our energy and our passion,” he said.
Also on Monday, it was:
‧ Thunder 98, Jazz 89
‧ Clippers 140, Celtics 115
‧ Nets 103, Pistons 75
‧ Cavaliers 126, Raptors 101
‧ Wizards 121, Kings 15
Freddie Freeman homered and drove in four runs, Shohei Ohtani also went deep and Roki Sasaki earned his first major league win as the Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Atlanta Braves 10-3 on Saturday night for their seventh straight victory. The Dodgers have won the first two games of the series to improve to 5-0 against Atlanta this year. Los Angeles’ three-game sweep at home early in the season left the Braves 0-7. Sasaki allowed three runs and six hits over five innings. The 23-year-old right-hander gave up a home run to Ozzie Albies, but received plenty of offensive support in his
Bayern Munich on Sunday were crowned German champions for the 34th time, giving striker Harry Kane his first major trophy, after second-placed Bayer 04 Leverkusen drew 2-2 at SC Freiburg. Bayern’s 3-3 draw at RB Leipzig on Saturday, when the Bavarians came from two goals down to take the lead before conceding a stoppage-time equalizer, meant defending Bundesliga champions Leverkusen needed to win at Freiburg to delay the title party. Leverkusen were two goals down before scoring twice in the final 10 minutes, but Xabi Alonso’s side could not find a third, as Bayern reclaimed the title at the first attempt after
Shuttler Lin Chun-yi yesterday kept Taiwan on the board as they faced their first major challenge of the group stage after marching into the last eight at the Sudirman Cup Finals in Xiamen, China. Taiwan were losing 3-1 to South Korea as of press time last night, with only the men’s doubles match remaining. Taiwan and four-time champions South Korea have already progressed to the quarter-finals, after Taiwan on Monday blanked the Czech Republic 5-0 without giving up a single game. Before last night’s tie, Taiwan were undefeated in Group B, with a 9-1 match record, ahead of South Korea, who, although also
A man fell from the 6.4m-high Clemente Wall in right field at PNC Park in Pittsburgh during Wednesday night’s game between the Pirates and the Chicago Cubs. Right after Andrew McCutchen hit a two-run double in the seventh inning to put the Pirates ahead 4-3, players began waving frantically for medical personnel and pointing to the man, who had fallen onto the warning track. The fan was tended to for approximately five minutes by members of both the Pirates and Cubs training staffs as well as PNC personnel before being removed from the field on a cart. The team issued a statement shortly
RSS