Houston’s Harden nets 50 in victory

James Harden had 50 points, 11 rebounds and 10 assists, scoring 10 straight Houston points down the stretch, to help the host Rockets beat the Sacramento Kings 119-108 on Saturday. Harden had his 42nd career triple-double and third 50-point game in the past six. He made seven 3-pointers to become the ninth player in NBA history with 2,000 career 3s.

Houston had a threepoint lead when Sacramento’s Willie CauleyStein made an alley-oop dunk. Harden then scored all of the Rockets’ points in a 10-2 run that made it 111-102 with three minutes to go. Harden grabbed the rebound after a miss by Marvin Bagley and found Clint Capela for a dunk that pushed the lead to 113-104.

Capela added 24 points and 15 rebounds, and Chis Paul had 22 points. Houston has won four of five.

Clippers 132, Cavaliers 108: Montrezl Harrell scored 23 points and Shai Gilgeous Alexander added 22 points and eight assists as host Los Angeles won for the seventh time in eight games. The Clippers moved to a halfgame behind San Antonio for the fifth seed in the Western Conference.

Nets 110, Celtics 96: D’Angelo Russell scored 20 of his 29 points in the third quarter as host Brooklyn beat Boston. Gordon Hayward scored 19 points for the Celtics, who rested Kyrie Irving and Al Horford.

Pistons 99, Trail Blazers 90: Reggie Jackson scored 28 points, Andre Drummond had 22 points and 19 rebounds, and host Detroit ended Portland’s six-game winning streak.

Magic 121, Pacers 116: Aaron Gordon had 23 points, 10 rebounds and seven assists, and Orlando racked up a season-high 37 assists in a road win over Indiana to keep pace in the Eastern Conference playoff race.

Heat 100, Knicks 92: Dion Waiters scored 28 points, Dwyane Wade added 16 in his last game at Madison Square Garden, and Miami beat the last-place New York Knicks. Hassan Whiteside finished with 17 points and 13 rebounds for the Heat.

Raptors 124, Bulls 101: Serge Ibaka had 23 points and 12 rebounds, Fred VanVleet also scored 23 and visiting Toronto routed Chicago despite playing without Kawhi Leonard and Pascal Siakam. 76ers 118, Timberwolves 109: Tobias Harris scored 25 points for Philadelphia in Jimmy Butler’s jeer-filled return to Minnesota, helping the 76ers hang on to beat the Timberwolves and move one step closer toward solidifying the No. 3 seed for the Eastern Conference playoffs.

James to sit: The Lakers say that forward LeBron James will sit out the final six games of the season to give him a head start on offseason healing for a 3-month-old groin strain, the first significant injury of his career.