Houston’s Harden has a special triple-double
HOUSTON — James Harden became the first player in NBA history to score 60 points as part of a triple-double as the Houston Rockets beat the Orlando Magic 114-107 on Tuesday night.
Harden scored 18 points in the fourth quarter to eclipse the 57 points Calvin Murphy scored in 1978 to break Houston’s single-game scoring record. After Harden broke the record, cameras in the arena showed a shot of Murphy, who works on the television broadcast team, smiling and clapping. Harden also had 10 rebounds and 11 assists.
The game was tied at 107 after a basket by Marreese Speights with under 4 minutes to play. Neither team scored for more than two minutes after that before Harden took over, scoring the next six points to make it 113-107 with 45 seconds left.
He set the scoring mark when he made a 3-pointer before crashing to the court after being fouled by Mario Hezonja. Harden then made the free throw to give him 60 points.
PISTONS 125, CAVALIERS 114: In Detroit, Andre Drummond had 21 points and 22 rebounds as Detroit beat Cleveland after the Cavaliers lost Kevin Love to a potentially season-altering injury.
Love exited in the first quarter with a broken left hand, and the Pistons took advantage of his absence, snapping an eightgame losing streak despite a roster that was depleted by their blockbuster trade for Blake Griffin. JAZZ 129, WARRIORS 99: In Salt Lake City, Ricky Rubio scored 23 points as Utah stunned Golden State.
The loss ended a three-game winning streak for the Warriors, who had won seven of eight before facing the Jazz. It was their largest loss of the season.
WIZARDS 102, THUNDER 96: In Washington, the Wizards got 25 points from Otto Porter Jr. and limited Russell Westbrook to 13 as they stopped Oklahoma City’s eight-game win streak.
Bradley Beal had 21 points and nine assists for Washington, which announced about 7½ hours before tipoff that John Wall will have arthroscopic surgery on his left knee today.
KNICKS 111, NETS 95: In New York, Kristaps Porzingis scored 28 points, and Enes Kanter had 20 points, 20 rebounds and five assists as the Knicks completed a four-game New York City sweep of the Nets with a victory.
DeMarre Carroll scored 13 points for Brooklyn, which lost its fourth straight game.
RAPTORS 109, TIMBERWOLVES 104: In Toronto, DeMar DeRozan scored 23 points and the Raptors rallied from a 13-point deficit to beat the Timberwolves.
Kyle Lowry and Serge Ibaka each scored 15 points as Toronto won its 14th straight home meeting with Minnesota.
KINGS 114, PELICANS 103: In New Orleans, Zach Randolph scored 26 points and grabbed 12 rebounds as Sacramento beat the Pelicans.
Kosta Koufos had 17 points and 17 rebounds for the Kings.
SPURS 106, NUGGETS 104: In San Antonio, Texas, LaMarcus Aldridge scored 30 points as the Spurs beat Denver.
The Spurs had four players in double figures, including 18 points each from Kyle Anderson and Pau Gasol.
TRAIL BLAZERS 104, CLIPPERS 96: In Los Angeles, Damian Lillard scored 28 points to lead Portland past Los Angeles. Jusuf Nurkic had 20 rebounds for the Blazers.