Harden snaps out of slump to beat Williamson, Pelicans
Houston head coach Mike D’Antoni has been around James Harden long enough to know that he’d eventually snap out of his shooting slump.
But D’Antoni admitted Sunday that he was quite relieved to see it happen sooner rather than later.
“I can go home and go to bed now,” D’Antoni said. “Before, I wouldn’t be sleeping much.”
Harden had 40 points to lead the Rockets to a 117109 win over the Pelicans in Houston.
Rookie forward Zion Williamson had 21 points and 10 rebounds for the Pelicans, whose winning streak was snapped at three games.
Harden, who added 10 rebounds and nine assists, poured in 26 points in the first half and cooled down in the second half. He still had his second straight game with 30 or more points after failing to score 30 in his previous four games as he worked through a shooting slump.
“James is James, so we can put all that other stuff to rest because he seems like he’s back,” D’Antoni said.
Josh Hart made one of two freethrow tries to allow New Orleans to cut the lead to 110107 with about two minutes to go.
Eric Gordon added a basket seconds after that and Danuel House hit a 3pointer to make it 115107 with less than a minute left to seal the victory.
Brandon Ingram had 28 points and 12 rebounds for New Orleans.
Houston went with its small lineup again as center Clint Capela missed his second straight game and the third in four games with a bruised right heel. Russell Westbrook added 22 points for the Rockets and Ben McLemore had 22 off the bench.
New Orleans head coach Alvin Gentry was unhappy that his team didn’t get the ball to Williamson for long stretches in the fourth quarter.
“Zion can’t go four minutes without touching the basketball and that’s on me,” he said. “That’s something that I’ve got to make sure that that will never happen again.”
Williamson wasn’t upset about his lack of touches in the fourth quarter. “I trust my teammates,” he said. “They felt like what they did was the right play and I don’t fault them with anything they did.”