Harden has 35 as Rockets beat Mavs

HOUSTON — James Harden scored 35 points, Russell Westbrook added 32 and the Houston Rockets built a big lead and held on for a 128121 victory over the Dallas Mavericks on Friday night.

Harden led the Rockets with a season-high 16 rebounds with center Clint Capela out with a bruised heel.

The Rockets led by 16 points entering the fourth quarter on a night when Mavericks star Luka Doncic sat out with a sprained right ankle that is expected to keep him out at least six games.

But the Mavericks started out the fourth quarter strong and got within four with about 5 minutes left.

Austin Rivers made a 3-pointer to stretch Houston’s advantage to 113-106 after that. Harden stole the ball from Kristaps Porzingis seconds later and finished the fast break with a layup.

But Dallas wouldn’t go away and cut the lead to four twice after that with the second time coming with about 90 seconds left when Tim Hardaway

Jr. was fouled on a 3-pointer and made the free throw for a four-point play.

Harden made a 3-pointer to pad Houston’s lead after Hardaway’s play, and the Rockets were able to hold on for the victory.

Porzingis had 35 points and 12 rebounds as the Mavericks lost their second game in a row.

The Mavericks scored the first seven points of the fourth quarter, capped by a 3-pointer from Seth Curry, to cut the deficit to 101-92. Dallas was still down by nine when Harden entered the game for the first time in the fourth quarter with about 9 minutes to go.

But his presence didn’t stop the Mavericks’ charge. Dallas used a 7-1 spurt, with five points from Delon Wright, to get within 107-104 and make Houston coach Mike D’Antoni call a timeout to try and get his team on track.

Houston got its first field goal in almost 3 ½ minutes after that when Harden made a 3-point play midway through the quarter.