Harden hits another double

James Harden had 25 points and 13 assists as the Rockets built a big lead early and held off a late rally to get a 128-104 win against the Orlando Magic last night in Houston.

The Rockets led by as many as 23 before the Magic began chipping away at the lead. Serge Ibaka made a turnaround jump shot midway through the fourth quarter to cut Houston’s lead to nine points. Harden grabbed a bad pass from Evan Fournier not long after that and dished to Eric Gordon, who finished with a 3-pointer.

Trevor Ariza added a 3-pointer for Houston to extend the lead to 112-97 with about four minutes left to put the game away.

Patrick Beverley scored seven points after that to help extend the lead to 12099 with less than two minutes left and send Houston’s starters to the bench.

It is Houston’s second straight win and the 10th loss in 13 games for the Magic.

Harden’s scoring slowed down a bit after he scored 41 and 42 points in his previous two games. But his 13 assists ended a streak of four straight games in which he had fewer than 10, which was a season-long drought.

Ibaka had 28 points for the Magic and Evan Fournier added 21.

Trail Blazers 114, Mavericks

113 — C.J. McCollum scored 32 points, the last two on a runner in the lane with 0.9 seconds left to give visiting Portland a win against Dallas.

McCollum’s shot capped a final minute in which the two teams traded leads six times and Dirk Nowitzki hit two clutch 3-pointers, the second a potential game-winner with 3.9 seconds left. McCollum scored Portland’s last seven points.

Damian Lillard added 29 points for the Blazers, who tied their season series with the Mavericks at 2-2 — each team winning twice on the others’ home floor.

Harrison Barnes had 26 points and Nowitzki 25 for Dallas. Hornets 111, Nets 107 — Kemba Walker, Nicolas Batum and Marco Belinelli each had 17 points as host Charlotte snapped a sevengame losing streak with a victory against Brooklyn.

Charlotte had not won since a Jan. 21 triumph against Brooklyn. In this game, the Hornets’ balanced offense included doubledigit scoring from seven players and an early lead that ballooned to as many as 17 in the second quarter.

Brooklyn lost its 10th straight game with the Nets’ most recent victory coming Jan. 20 at New Orleans. Bojan Bogdanovic scored 22 points and center Brook Lo-