Harden ends slump with 40-point effort
ROCKETS 117, PELICANS 109
HOUSTON — Houston Coach Mike D’Antoni has been around James Harden long enough to know that he’d eventually snap out of his shooting slump.
But he admitted on 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, 10 rebounds and 9 assists to lead the Rockets to a 117-109 victory over the New Orleans Pelicans.
Rookie sensation Zion Williamson had 21 points and 10 rebounds for the Pelicans, whose three-game winning streak was snapped.
Harden poured in 26 points in the first half and cooled down in the second half. But he still had his second consecutive 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 the rest because he seems like he’s back,” D’Antoni said.
Jrue Holiday made a free throw before Josh Hart made one of two free throws to allow New Orleans to cut the lead to 110-107 with about two minutes to go.
Eric Gordon added a basket seconds after that and Danuel House hit a three-pointer to make it 115-107 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 consecutive 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.
Harden was more interested in talking about Houston’s defense down the stretch than his shooting.
“We did a pretty good and solid job the entire game,” he said. “The fourth quarter was the time to lock it down and we did that to win the game.”
RAPTORS 129, BULLS 102
TORONTO — Terence Davis scored a career-high 31 points and Toronto tied a team record with its 11th consecutive win, beating Chicago.
Toronto also won 11 in a row in January 2016, and again from Feb. 26 to Mar. 16, 2018.
Pascal Siakam added 17 points, Serge Ibaka had 16, Chris Boucher 15 and Kyle Lowry 14 for the reigning NBA champions. The Raptors outscored the Bulls 69-39 in the second half to win their 12th consecutive meeting with Chicago.
Thaddeus Young fouled out with 21 points and Zach LaVine had 18 as the Bulls lost their third in a row. Toronto swept Chicago for the third consecutive season.
Chandler Hutchison scored 17 points, and Ryan Arcidiacono and Coby White each had 12 for the Bulls, who are 8-18 on the road.
Davis made a career-high 12 of his 15 field goal attempts, including six of seven from three-point range.
An undrafted rookie from the University of Mississippi, Davis had scored 23 points twice this season, most recently against Washington on Jan. 17. He surpassed that mark with a 13-point fourth quarter.
PISTONS 128, NUGGETS 123 (OT)
DETROIT — Andre Drummond had 21 points and 17 rebounds, and Detroit rallied from an early 21-point deficit to beat Denver, snapping its five-game losing streak.
Reggie Jackson added 20 points and Bruce Brown scored 19 for Detroit. Drummond put the Pistons ahead to stay with a dunk early in overtime, and Brown added a three-pointer that made it 116-112.
Drummond fouled out with 2:43 left, but Detroit was able to hold on.
Nikola Jokic had 39 points, 11 assists and 10 rebounds for Denver. His three-pointer with 29.4 seconds left made it 126-123, but Thon Maker answered with an alley-oop dunk at the other end to push the lead to five.
The Nuggets were playing for the third time in four days. The Nuggets looked just fine at the outset, making 16 of their first 20 shots from the field. They led 28-7 and 31-10, and it was 44-30 at the end of the first quarter.
Detroit rallied in the second, tying the game with a 21-8 run and eventually taking a 68-65 lead into halftime. It was tight down the stretch. Jackson missed a runner in the final seconds of regulation with the score tied at 111. BUCKS 129, SUNS 108
MILWAUKEE — Giannis Antetokounmpo had 30 points and 19 rebounds, and Milwaukee overcame Devin Booker’s 32 points to beat Phoenix.
Antetokounmpo reached the 30-point mark for the 26th time and has had at least 10 rebounds in 23 of those games.
Fellow All-Star Khris Middleton had 25 points, 8 rebounds and 6 assists, and Brook Lopez had 17 points. The Bucks shot 49.5% and made 15 of 38 from three-point range.
DeAndre Ayton had 20 points and 14 rebounds for the Suns, who shot 39% and made just 6 of 23 from deep. Phoenix has lost five of seven games.