Harden's 47 points leads Rockets over Clippers, 102-93

Posted: November 14, 2019 -- 8:06 a.m. CT

HOUSTON, TX (Toyota Center) -- James Harden scored 17 of his game-high 47 points in the fourth quarter to lead the Houston Rockets to a 102-93 win over the Los Angeles Clippers Wednesday night.

Over the past five games, Harden is averaging 41.6 points per game on 45.7% shooting. Harden has scored 420 points in 401 minutes of play this season which is the highest total by a player through the first 11 games of a season since Wilt Chamberlain had 592 in 1962-63.

"He was incredible tonight," Austin Rivers said after the game. "Especially versus a defensively sound team like they are, and with the guys they have on the floor that can defend."

Rivers (3 for 12 field goal shooting) struggled to make shots Wednesday night. Most of the Rockets not named Harden (12 for 26) or Clint Capela (6 for 7 field goals) did not shoot the ball well versus the Clippers.

"We had a lot of guys open, who just weren't making shots tonight," Rivers commented. "It's just one of those nights that where I couldn't make a shot, Russ (Russell Westbrook) couldn't make a shot, Ben (Ben McLemore) couldn't make a shot, nobody could hit a shot, and James (Harden) just took it over himself. So, sometimes you need, you know, I don't know that saying, you know Superman sometimes has to put on his cape or whatever, that's kind of what he did tonight it felt like."

Rockets Head Coach Mike D'Antoni said of Harden's performance: "It's what I expect. He's a special player, no doubt about that."

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Houston (8-3) raced to a 13-3 lead in the first 3:31 of the first quarter; and, despite Russell Westbrook's being whistled for fouls, the Rockets led the Clippers 31-13 at end of the first period.

The Clippers slowed down the pace in the second quarter and both teams did not shoot well in the second period. The Clips shot 37.0% (10 for 27) while the Rockets shot 35.0% (7 for 20).

The Clippers clawed within five points (38-33) with 3:12 remaining in the quarter; but, P.J Tucker hit a corner three and Harden followed with 8 points (two 3-point baskets and a floater) to put the Rockets ahead 49-37 at halftime.

Westbrook did not play in the second quarter due to foul trouble; so, he made up for the time he sat on the bench with 10 field goal attempts in 9:36 of action in the third quarter. He only made 2 of the 10 attempts.

Houston made 7 of 23 field goal attempts (30.4%) in the third quarter; and, the Clippers outscored the Rockets 31-25 in the period.

With the sluggish pace at the Clippers' tempo, the Clippers erased the Rockets' 74-68 lead after three quarters with a 7-1 run to tie the game at 75 with 9 minutes remaining in the fourth quarter.

The game was tied two more times at 78 and 80 before LA led 84-80 with 6:52 on the game clock.

Then, Harden went to work.

Harden sank two free throws. Westbrook, after hesitating a second, made a three-point basket to put Houston ahead 85-84. The Clippers called timeout; and, after the timeout, LA's Kawhi Leonard made two foul shots to put the Clippers ahead 86-85 with 5:17 remaining in the game.

Harden scored a driving layup-up; then, sank a 32-foot three-point shot in transition to put the Rockets ahead 90-86. Next, Harden scored 8 more points to stretch Houston's lead to 98-88 with 91 seconds remaining.

After a corner three-point basket by LA forward JaMychal Green, and a missed shot by Westbrook, Harden stole the ball from Leonard then tossed a long alley-oop to Tyson Chandler which Chandler caught and slammed a reverse two-hand dunk for a 100-91 lead with just 37 seconds remaining.

Harden capped off the scoring with two free throws. To summarize, Harden scored 17 points and assisted on the other 5 points to account for all of Houston's 22 points in the final 5:52 of the game.

After the game, Harden said of his performance, "I just did what I do."

NOTE:

Clint Capela had 20 rebounds tonight, marking his third straight game with 20 boards. The last Rocket to have recorded 20+ rebounds in three straight games was Moses Malone from January 28 to February 5, 1982. Over the past five games, Capela is averaging 17.8 rebounds per game after averaging 8.0 rebounds per game the first six games of the season.

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