Rockets down Pelicans
HOUSTON – Clint Capela had a career-high 28 points and James Harden scored 12 straight points for Houston in the fourth quarter as the Rockets rallied for a 130-123 victory to extend their winning streak to 10 games on Monday night.
The game was tied with about three minutes remaining after Harden made two free throws. Those were the first of seven straight points by Harden that put Houston's up 124-119 with 1:30 left.
Jrue Holiday made a basket after that, but Harden hit a 3-pointer seconds later to push the lead to 127-121. Harden stole the ball from E'Twaun Moore after a timeout by New Orleans. He was fouled and made both free throws to make it 129-121 with 34 seconds left.
After scoring 48 points in Houston's last game, Harden finished with 26 on Monday, but he tied a career-high with 17 assists, finding the 6-foot-10 Capela under the basket again and again.
Holiday had a seasonhigh 37 points for the Pelicans. Moore had a career-high 36 points and made a career-most six 3-pointers on a night New Orleans set a franchise record with 18 3-pointers.
The Pelicans led by seven entering the fourth and were up by eight with about 10 minutes left when Moore scored all their points in a 6-2 run. Houston used an 11-3 spurt after that to tie it at 112-112 with about six minutes remaining. Paul made five points in that span and Capela capped it with two dunks.
New Orleans was without Anthony Davis, who sat out with a groin injury. He missed three games after sustaining the injury on Dec. 1 but played in the last two games before the problem began to bother him again. AP