Harden leads Rockets over Spurs, Nuggets hold off Thunder

James Harden scored 28 points and dished out 11 assists Thursday as the Houston Rockets handed the San Antonio Spurs a rare home NBA defeat, 102-91.

Harden showed no sign of a let-down after his historic 60-point triple-double on Tuesday, producing seven points in the final two minutes as the Rockets thwarted a Spurs rally to notch their second win this season over San Antonio.

Down by double-digits much of the contest, the Spurs pulled within 92-85 with 2:49 remaining with the aid of a hook shot from LaMarcus Aldridge and a three-pointer from Bryn Forbes.

The Rockets responded with a three-pointer form Harden, followed by his four-point play with 1:36 left.

“They’re great in this building,” Harden said of a Spurs team that endured just their fifth home defeat of the season. “We knew they were going to make a run. We held our composure, made some big shots, got some defensive stops when we needed to and that was the game right there.”

Gerald Green added 15 points for Houston. Clint Capela chipped in 14, Ryan Anderson scored 13 and Chris Paul and P.J. Tucker scored 10 apiece for Houston, who led 54-38 at halftime.

Gary Harris was the hero in Denver, draining a three-pointer at the buzzer to lift the Nuggets to a 127-124 victory over the Oklahoma City Thunder.

Denver led by as many as 20, and by 17 in the fourth quarter before the Thunder mounted a furious comeback, knotting the score at 124-124 on Paul George’s three-pointer with 5.6 seconds to play.

Denver responded as Nikola Jokic fired an inbound pass to Harris in time for him to make the game-winner.

Jokic notched his third triple-double of the season with 29 points, 14 assists and 13 rebounds.

Jamal Murray scored 33 points for Denver and Harris added 25 as the Nuggets shook off narrow defeats to Boston and San Antonio earlier in the week.