Harden scores 60, gets triple-double
James Harden knew he’d have to do a little more Tuesday night with the Rockets missing key players. Even he couldn’t have imagined he’d do this much.
Harden became the first player in NBA history to score 60 points as part of a tripledouble and the shorthanded Rockets beat Orlando 114-107 in Houston.
“I just gave it all I had tonight,” Harden said. “We all did. We all fought for 48 minutes, we got key stops when we needed to and we made big shots.”
Harden scored 18 points in the fourth quarter to eclipse the 57 points Calvin Murphy scored in 1978 and break Houston’s scoring record for a game. After Harden broke the record, cameras in the arena showed Murphy, who works on the TV broadcast team, smiling and clapping for Harden, who also had 10 rebounds and 11 assists.
Harden set the scoring mark when he stepped back and made a three-pointer before crashing to the court after being fouled by Mario Hezonja. Harden then made the free throw to give him 60 points and bring the crowd to its feet.
Harden, who had four steals and a block, grabbed his 10th rebound a few seconds later to give him his third triple double this season. He made 17 of 18 free-throw tries and was 19for-30 from the floor with five threes.
The Rockets were without Chris Paul (sore groin) and Trevor Ariza (strained hamstring) and lost Eric Gordon to lower back stiffness in the second quarter.
Pistons 125, Cavaliers 114: Andre Drummond had 21 points and 22 rebounds as shorthanded Detroit beat visiting Cleveland, which lost Kevin Love in the first quarter with a broken left hand. The Pistons snapped an eight-game losing streak despite a roster that was depleted after they gave up three players in a trade with the Clippers on Monday for Blake Griffin, who was not yet available. LeBron James scored 21 points for the Cavs, but Cleveland was listless early and outplayed late.
Trail Blazers 104, Clippers 96: Damian Lillard scored 28 points for visiting Portland, against a Los Angeles team playing its first game since Monday’s Griffin trade. Jusuf Nurkic had 14 points and 18 rebounds for the Blazers, who ended a seven-game skid against the Clippers. Lou Williams scored 20 off the bench and DeAndre Jordan had 19 boards for the Clippers.
Wizards 102, Thunder 96: Beginning a long stretch without point guard John Wall, host Washington got 25 points from Otto Porter Jr., limited Russell Westbrook to 13 and ended Oklahoma City’s win streak at eight games. Bradley Beal had 21 points and nine assists for Washington, which announced earlier Tuesday that Wall will have arthroscopic surgery on his left knee. Paul George had 28 points for Oklahoma City, but none in the fourth. Carmelo Anthony scored 19, but he missed three shots in the final 30 seconds.
Kings 114, Pelicans 103: Zach Randolph scored 26 points and grabbed 12 rebounds, and Kosta Koufos had 17 points and 17 rebounds as visiting Sacramento exploited the absence of former Kings center DeMarcus Cousins by getting double-doubles from both starting big men. Anthony Davis had 23 points and 13 rebounds for New Orleans.
Spurs 106, Nuggets 104: LaMarcus Aldridge scored 30 points as San Antonio pushed its home win streak to 11.
Knicks 111, Nets 95: Kristaps Porzingis scored 28 points, Enes Kanter had 20 points and 20 rebounds, and the host Knicks completed a New York City sweep of the Nets with their fourth victory in four tries this season.
Raptors 109, Timberwolves 104: DeMar DeRozan scored 23 points, Jonas Valanciunas had 18 points and 11 rebounds and host Toronto rallied from a 13-point deficit. Minnesota has not won in Toronto since Jan. 21, 2004, when the Timberwolves’ Andrew Wiggins was 8 years old.