Harden scores season-high 40 in Rockets’ win over Pacers
HOUSTON — It’s more than three weeks into the season and the Houston Rockets finally got their first home win on Sunday.
With the hole they’re in early, they’ll need plenty more to dig their way out.
James Harden scored a seasonhigh 40 points and Chris Paul added 26 to help the Rockets to a 115-103 victory over the Indiana Pacers.
“It’s nice to get a win,” Paul said. “We’ve obviously been struggling … but we’ve got to keep building.”
The Rockets, who had lost the last two games of a season-long fivegame road trip, dropped their first four home games. They’re 5-7 this season and in 12th place in the Western Conference.
Houston was up by 10 with about four minutes left after five quick points by the Pacers, but Harden made two free throws after that to stretch the lead. The Pacers got within 8 on a basket by Cory Joseph with about 90 seconds left, but Paul made a layup a few seconds later to put the game out of reach.
The Rockets, who entered the game ranking near the bottom of the league in 3-point shooting percentage, shot 42.6 percent from longrange and made a season-high 20 3s.
Victor Oladipo had 22 points for the Pacers, who have lost three of their last four games.
“We knew they were very capable of getting hot even though they hadn’t shot the ball well early this season,” Indiana coach Nate McMillan said. “We knew they were very capable and tonight they did. It was tough matchups trying to stop those guys.”
The win comes as the Rockets deal with a disappointing start to the season and rumors and reports about Carmelo Anthony’s status and future with the team. Anthony, who is in his first year in Houston, sat out for the second straight game with an undisclosed illness on a day the New York Times had a sourced report that said he had been told he would soon be waived.
General manager Daryl Morey said before the game that the report was “inaccurate” and that singling Anthony out as the cause of Houston’s struggles was unfair.