Clippers overcome Harden’s second straight 51-point game
HOUSTON – Austin Rivers scored a career-high 36 points and made six 3-pointers, and the short-handed Los Angeles Clippers withstood James Harden’s second straight 51-point performance to beat the Houston Rockets 128-118 on Friday night.
The Rockets had a 14-game winning streak snapped by the Los Angeles Lakers on Wednesday night, and lost consecutive games for just the second time this season and the first since Oct. 28 and 30.
Rivers made a 3-pointer with just under three minutes to play that pushed the lead to 117-111. Ryan Anderson made two free throws for Houston before C.J. Williams added a layup for the Clippers.
Former Rocket Lou Williams, who had 32 points, then made his fourth 3-pointer of the quarter after that to make it 122-113 before a turnover by Harden spurred coach Mike D’Antoni to call a timeout.
Rivers made another 3-pointer after the timeout and Harden made a layup before fouling out a few seconds later. He received a technical for arguing about the call and was ejected from the game.
In Oklahoma City, Russell Westbrook hit a 3-pointer with 1.7 seconds left to cap a 30-point, 15-assist outing, and Oklahoma City held off Atlanta 120117.
Carmelo Anthony added 24 points on 7-of-12 3-point shooting, and Paul George scored 17 points for the Thunder. They have won five of their last six after an 11-14 start.
Marco Belinelli scored 30 points for Atlanta.
In other NBA games, it was Bucks 109, Hornets 104; Pistons 104, Knicks 101; Heat 113, Mavericks 101; Pelicans 111, Magic 97.