Rockets stay in flight despite Thunder’s blast

OKLAHOMA CITY – Chris Paul scored 25 points and the Houston Rockets beat the Oklahoma City Thunder 122-112 on Tuesday night for their 16th straight win.

James Harden had 23 points and 11 assists, and Trevor Ariza added 15 points for the Rockets, who are on the second-longest win streak in franchise history.

Russell Westbrook scored 32 points and Carmelo Anthony added 23 for Oklahoma City, which is in a logjam of teams trying to fight their way into third place in the West.

Oklahoma City had beaten several of the league’s top teams this season. The Thunder have two wins over Golden State, a victory over Toronto and a win over Cleveland this season. The Rockets avoided that fate by going 17 of 33 on 3-pointers and 29 of 34 on free throws.

The Rockets led 54-45 at halftime as Harden posted 13 points, seven assists and five rebounds. Anthony had 19 points for the Thunder and Westbrook had 14, but All-Star Paul George went 1 for 7 from the field before the break.

The Thunder closed the gap to three in the opening minutes of the third quarter, but the Rockets dominated the rest of the way and led 87-74 at the end of the period.

In Washington, Bradley Beal scored 30 points on 12-of-16 shooting in his 17th straight game without backcourt mate John Wall, helping the Washington Wizards to a 117-113 overtime victory over Dwyane Wade’s Miami Heat.

In other results, Philadelphia routed Charlotte, 128-114; Toronto clobbered Atlanta, 106-90; Dallas whipped Denver, 118-107; Portland crushed New York, 111-87; Golden State turned back Brooklyn, 114-107; and the New Orleans Pelicans repelled the Los Angeles Clippers, 121-116.