Harden’s 51 carry Rockets past Kings
HOUSTON — James Harden strengthened his case for the MVP award with a career-high 51 points, and the Houston Rockets squandered a huge early lead but held on for a 115-111 win over the Sacramento Kings on Wednesday night.
Houston was up by nine with about eight minutes left when Sacramento used a 9-2 spurt to get within 104-102 with 5 remaining. An 8- 0 run by Harden, which he capped with a 3-point play, pushed the lead to 112-104.
DeMarcus Cousins led the Kings with his second career triple-double with 24 points, 21 rebounds and 10 assists after missing Monday’s game to rest. He also had six blocks.
Wednesday’s performance surpassed Harden’s previous career best of 50 points, which came on March 19.
OTHER GAMES
Mavericks 135, Thunder 131 at Oklahoma City: Monta Ellis scored 26 points, and Dallas Mavericks withstood a tripledouble from Russell Westbrook.
Westbrook fi ni s hed with 31 points, 11 rebounds and 11 assists.
A nt hony Mo rr o w scored 32 points and Enes Kanter added a careerhigh 30 points and 16 rebounds for the Thunder. According to STATS, it was the first time a team had three players score at least 30 points in a game since Westbrook, Kevin Durant and James Harden did it for Oklahoma City on March 7, 2012.
Spurs 103, Magic 91 at Orlando, Fla: Aron Baynes had 18 points, Manu Ginobili added 13 and San Antonio clinched a playoff berth while posting its fifth straight victory.
The Spurs are 15-3 since Feb. 27, and have now made the postseason in 18 consecutive seasons.
San Antonio trailed early, but connected on 13 of their 29 attempts from the 3-point line as they built as much as a 25-point lead. It was t he Spurs’ eig ht h straight win over Orlando.
Victor Oladipo led the Magic with 24 points. Nik Vucevic added 16 points and 11 rebounds.
Jazz 98, Nuggets 84 at Salt Lake City: Rudy Gobert scored a career-high 20 points, grabbed 12 rebounds and had two blocks as Utah cruised past Denver.
Kenneth Faried scored 19 points and added 10 rebounds for the Nuggets.
Nets 100, Knicks 98 at Brook ly n , New York : Brook Lopez’s follow shot with 2 seconds left gave the Brooklyn Nets their fifth straight victory and a share of seventh place in the Eastern Conference.
Bucks 95, Bulls 91 at Milwaukee: Michael Carter-Williams had 21 points and 10 rebounds to lead Milwaukee to a rare victory at home over Chicago. The Bucks had lost their previous nine home games against the Bulls.
Chicago’s seven-game winning strea k against Milwaukee ended despite 25 points and seven rebounds from Jimmy Butler.
Raptors 113, Timberwolves 99 at Minneapolis: Lou Williams scored 18 points to lead a balanced Toronto offense.
Andrew Wiggins scored 25 points for Minnesota, which lost its fourth straight.
Celtics 100, Pacers 87 at Boston: Kelly Olynyk scored 19 points a f ter nearly missing the game with an eye i njury sustained hours before tip-off and Evan Turner finished with 1 3 points, 1 2 assists and 1 1 rebounds for Boston, which is a half-game out of a playoff spot.
George Hil l had 21 points and Rodney Stuckey 16 for the Pacers, who lost for the ninth time in 11 games.
Hornets 102, Piston 78 at Charlotte, N.C.: Marvin Williams scored 18 points and Charlotte won for only the third time in 10 games to keep pace in the Eastern Conference playoff race.
Before the game, Hornets center Al Jefferson had his knee drained for t he t hird t i me i n eight days. He finished with 1 1 points and nine rebounds.
Jodie Meeks led Detroit with 15 points.
Wizards 106, 76ers 93 at Washington: Marcin Gortat scored 23 points and grabbed 14 rebounds, Bradley Beal added 20 points for Washington, which had lost five of six.
Ish Smith tied his season high with 23 points and Isaiah Canaan added 18 for the 76ers.
DEVELOPMENTS
Rose non-committal on return: Derrick Rose said strength in his right knee and conditioning are the last things he needs to develop before returning to action but wouldn’t commit to a return date.
Rose scrimmaged Monday and Tuesday in his first contact since having a small piece of his right meniscus removed Feb. 27. The Bulls estimated Rose would return in four to six weeks. Friday is five weeks since the procedure.
Rose s a id he was pleased with how he felt in both scrimmages and that he was able to get to where he wanted to on the court.
“I know it’s a process. But I’m along for this ride,” he said. “I was able to get to the spots. It’s just making shots and getting the wind to actually run up and down. That’s the hardest thing.”
Kings sign first Indian player: Sim Bhullar and the Sacramento Kings are about to make NBA history.
The Kings are signing Bhullar to a 10-day contract that will make him the league’s first player of Indian descent, a person with knowledge of the deal said Wednesday.