Harden's 39 points not enough in Rockets' 115-107 loss to Pistons

Posted: December 15, 2019 -- 12:37 a.m. CT

HOUSTON, TX (Toyota Center) -- The Houston Rockets lost to Detroit Pistons 115-107 Saturday night. Saturday's loss bookends the Rockets' record this week at 2-2: Houston lost to the Sacramento Kings Monday; then, defeated the Cleveland Cavaliers Wednesday before topping the Orlando Magic Friday night. Four games in 6 days. Two wins and two losses.

James Harden scored 39 points in the game; however, he shot below 50 percent (14 for 33) from the floor in the game. Since Russell Westbrook did not play in the game (rest); Harden had more of a scoring load than usual to carry Saturday night.

Head Coach Mike D'Antoni thought the busy week and Detroit's physical defense had an affect on Harden.

"You hate to take away if the other team played well," D'Antoni remarked. "They played really well; but, you know – our threes were short. James (Harden) got beat up and tired; and, he obviously carries a big load. But, there's some nights that we need other things to happen and it just didn't happen for us."

Pistons' center Andre Drummond did not play in the game because of inflammation in his left eye and forward Blake Griffin didn't play the second half due to left knee soreness; however, the Pistons, one of the worst rebounding teams in the league outrebounded the Rockets.

Houston was outrebounded 55-46 Saturday night. The Rockets had not been outrebounded in any of the previous nine games, tying for their longest streak since an 11-game span from December 6 to December 29, 1988. Houston is 7-5 when failing to outrebound the opposition this season.

Houston (17-9) led Detroit 32-30 at the end of the first quarter. Detroit (11-15) took a 37-35 lead with 10:57 left in the second quarter. The Rockets never led the rest of the ball game.

"It is what it is," Harden said after the game. "We all know how difficult it is. You just got to continue to just fight through it. Tough one for us tonight."

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The Rockets trailed Detroit 62-52 at halftime and 88-75 after three quarters.

Rockets forward Danuel House Jr sank a three-point shot with 10:11 remaining in the fourth quarter to pull Houston within 90-84; but, Detroit scored 6 consecutive points to lead 96-84.

Houston got within 7 three times; but, Detroit kept the Rockets at arms' length before Pistons' guard Derrick Rose stretched the lead to 106-93 with 6 straight points with 3:57 on the clock.

Detroit led 110-98 with just 83 seconds remaining; but, Rockets' rookie Chris Clemons swished a three-point shot and swiped a steal and scored a layup to trim Houston's deficit to just five points (112-107) with 41 seconds remaining.

Houston did not score another point; and, the Pistons finished the game sinking 3 of 4 foul shots.

As D'Antoni said after the game, "Too little. Too late."

The Rockets' next game (the 5th game in 8 days) is Monday, December 16, versus the San Antonio Spurs, at 7 p.m.

NOTES:

Chris Clemons had 17 points in 16 minutes of play off the bench while shooting 5-of-11 from 3-point range which ties for the most 3-pointers made by a rookie in a game with fewer than 20 minutes played.

Clint Capela had 12 points and a game-high 19 rebounds but shot 0-of-6 from the floor in the second half after shooting 6-of-7 in the first half.

The Rockets lost despite holding the Pistons to 44.6% shooting from the floor and 32.4% shooting from 3-point range. Houston is 11-1 when opponents shoot below 45.0% from the floor this season and 10-2 when the opposition shoots 33.3% or worse from downtown.

Detroit's Derrick Rose had 20 points and a season-high 12 assists tonight. It's Rose's first time recording 20 or more points and 10 or more assists in a game since having 23 and 10 for the Chicago Bulls vs. the Atlanta Hawks on January 17, 2015.

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