NBA roundup: Harden scores 41, Rockets stay hot
James Harden scored 41 points as the red-hot Houston
Rockets held off the host New Orleans Pelicans 108-104 on Saturday night.
Harden had his third straight game with at least 40 points and his seventh straight with at least 35 as the Rockets won for the ninth time in 10 games.
Eric Gordon added 21 points, Danuel House Jr. scored 15 and recently signed Austin Rivers came off the bench to score 10.
Julius Randle had 23 points and 11 rebounds to lead the Pelicans, who lost for the sixth time in seven games. Anthony Davis, who scored a season-high 48 points and grabbed 17 rebounds while playing nearly 43 minutes a night earlier, had 22 points and 11 rebounds. E’Twaun Moore scored 21 and Jrue Holiday had 20.
Warriors 115, Trail Blazers 105
Klay Thompson scored 32 points and Stephen Curry and Kevin Durant added 25 apiece as visiting Golden State downed Portland.
Damian Lillard put in 40 points for the Trail Blazers, who beat the Warriors 110-109 in overtime two nights earlier. Jusuf Nurkic added 21 points, 10 rebounds and seven assists for Portland.
Golden State’s Andre Iguodala was assessed a technical foul and ejected for throwing the ball into the stands after time expired in the first half.
Spurs 122, Clippers 111
LaMarcus Aldridge scored a season-high 38 points and keyed a mid-third quarter run that cemented the game and helped propel visiting San Antonio to a win over Los Angeles.
Both teams were playing the second games of a back-to-back and it showed, especially from the Clippers, who beat the Los Angeles Lakers on Friday but had no energy in the second half when San Antonio ran away with the game.
San Antonio busted open a game that was tied at the half by outscoring the Clippers by 20 points in the third period.
Wizards 130, Hornets 126
Trevor Ariza scored 24 points and converted a crucial threepoint play with 1.8 seconds remaining, and injury-riddled Washington snapped a threegame losing streak with a home victory over Charlotte.
Ariza came to the rescue after the Wizards nearly blew a ninepoint lead in the final 24 seconds. He was fouled on a layup and hit the ensuing free throw to give the Wizards their final four-point victory margin.
The Wizards were playing their first game since learning that All-Star guard John Wall would miss the remainder of the season because of upcoming heel surgery. The Wizards also were without Otto Porter (knee), Markieff Morris (back/neck) and Dwight Howard (spinal surgery).
Bucks 129, Nets 115
Giannis Antetokounmpo scored 14 of his 31 points in the fourth quarter and added 10 rebounds and 10 assists to record his third triple-double as Milwaukee built a big lead and warded off a late comeback attempt by visiting Brooklyn.
Antetokounmpo helped the Bucks finish off their seventh win in eight games by scoring eight straight points down the stretch after the Nets were within 116-109 on a short jumper by Shabazz Napier with 4:51 remaining.
The Bucks finished the game with a 13-6 run highlighted by Antetokounmpo. He hit two midrange jumpers, two layups, including one when he made a crafty move around Napier, and hit the right-handed layup around Jared Dudley with 1:58 left for a 126-113 lead.
Celtics 112, Grizzlies 103
Marcus Morris put Boston ahead for good with a jumper with 2:41 remaining and Al Horford buried a crucial 3-pointer a little more than a minute later, rallying the visitors to a victory at Memphis.
In the first head-to-head meeting of star point guards Kyrie Irving of Boston and Mike Conley of Memphis since March 2015, they matched game-high, 26-point efforts in a game that featured five late lead changes.
Horford finished with 18 points and five 3-pointers as the Celtics outscored the Grizzlies 48-21 from beyond the arc. Nuggets 122, Suns 118 Jamal Murray ignited a 46point performance with a pair of early 3-pointers as Denver scored the game’s first eight points and never trailed en route to a victory over host Phoenix.
Murray’s total was his secondhighest of the season. He went for 48 points last month against Boston.
The Nuggets bolted out to a 36-16 advantage after one quarter and went up by as many as 25 in the second period.
Jazz 129, Knicks 97 Rudy Gobert scored 24 points and had 13 rebounds — in the first half alone — as Utah scored 71 points in the first 24 minutes and waltzed to a win over visiting New York.