 athleticism coming at you and they've got to get back and get a wall and then ... it didn't quite go and get it back to James and just let him do what James does,” D’Antoni said. “It's a pretty good 1-2 punch, that's for sure.”The Rockets led by double digits for most of this one on a night they got starters Clint Capela and Danuel House back after both players had missed time with injuries.Houston was up by 18 with about five minutes left when Harden made a 3-pointer to make it 120-99. Westbrook collected his 10th assist when Harden made a layup with about 3 1/2 minutes left for Houston's next points and the pair along with P. J. Tucker headed to the bench for good after that.CJ McCollum led the Trail Blazers with 25 points in a game where Damian Lillard shot just 4 of 15 and had 13 points.Stotts was unhappy that his team had more rebounds overall than Houston but had just 12 offensive rebounds to 17 by the Rockets.“The thing that was probably the most disappointing was their offensive rebounding and how they converted their offensive rebounding into points,” he said. “I thought that was the difference in the first half.”Houston led by 23 points entering the fourth quarter after scoring 35 points in a big third quarter. The Trail Blazers cut it to 102-85 with about 9 minutes to go but Westbrook had the next three points to pad the lead.The Trail Blazers cut the lead to 11 with a 3-pointer by McCollum with about 8 1/2 minutes left in the third quarter. The Rockets then used a 19-6 run to make it 94-70 with about 2 1/2 minutes left in the period. Harden had six points in that stretch and Tucker made a 3-pointer and added five points.The Rockets were up by 14 at halftime after a 15-point second quarter from Harden.TIP-INSTrail Blazers: Stotts said Carmelo Anthony is expected to join the team on Tuesday. Anthony hasn't played in the NBA since Nov. 8, 2018, when he was with the Rockets ... Portland made 11 of 36 3-pointers.Rockets: G Eric Gordon spoke to reporters on Monday for the first time since having arthroscopic surgery on his right knee last week. Gordon said he is feeling good and hopes to return around Christmas. ... House returned after missing the last three games with a back injury. ... Capela was back in the lineup after sitting out two games with a concussion.CELA & HAYESCapela added a season-high 22 points and had 20 rebounds to become the first Rocket to have at least 20 rebounds in four straight games since Hall of Famer Elvin Hayes in 1971. Hayes sat courtside with fellow Hall of Famer Hakeem Olajuwon to witness Capela’s big game.“I talked to him a little bit after the game and he congratulated me,” Capela said. ??So I’m just proud and hopefully I can keep going.”UP NEXTTrail Blazers: Visit New Orleans on Tuesday night.Rockets: Visit Denver on Wednesday night.---More NBA: https://apnews.com/NBA and https://twitter.com/-Sports)
Nov 17, 2019Houston guard James Harden has previously enjoyed stretches of utter brilliance like the one he is riding during the Rockets' seven-game winning streak, but that doesn't diminish the awe his current level of play is inspiring.The Rockets will host the Portland Trail Blazers on Monday seeking to extend their winning streak to eight games while searching for another flash of exceptional play from Harden, who is averaging 43 points, 6.7 rebounds, 7.9 assists and 2.3 steals during the streak.With the Rockets missing four of their top five scorers and playing the second game of a home-road back-to-back Saturday at Minnesota, Harden poured in 49 points, grabbed five rebounds and dished out six assists to carry Houston to a 125-105 victory. Rockets coach Mike D'Antoni described Harden as a "bazooka" following the performance and, on a grander scale, Houston displayed the desire needed to win nightly in an ultra-competitive Western Conference."It's very, very important," Harden said. "We can't take any game for granted. We showed that." The Trail Blazers were in desperate need of the collective performance they received in San Antonio on Saturday, rallying from a 15-point deficit after earlier blowing a 23-point lead. The 121-116 victory over the Spurs snapped a stretch of six losses over seven games.Against the Spurs, the Trail Blazers were more than just Damian Lillard and CJ McCollum. That duo combined for 54 points, with McCollum scoring 32 on 13-of-25 shooting, but Portland received 21 points and 12 rebounds plus three blocks from Hassan Whiteside, as well as 16 points from Rodney Hood. Four reserves combined to provide 25 points off the bench."It's better for us in the long term when it's a group effort," Lillard said. "Obviously there are going to be nights where CJ has a huge game, or I have a huge game, or one of us takes over the game. It's going to happen, and it's going to be necessary sometimes. But in a time like this where we've been struggling it's great to have a group effort to pull out a tough win."If we can get that type of production and effort from everybody in big situations like this, it's going to make us a better team." Starting with what was essentially a home loss at the buzzer to the 76ers on Nov. 2, the Trail Blazers had slipped into what could fairly be described as the doldrums. Ugly losses at Golden State and Sacramento were mixed in with home setbacks against Brooklyn and Toronto. Viewed as a title contender after qualifying for the Western Conference Finals last season, Portland instead opened this season as one of the surprising disappointments in the league.Rallying to win the opener of a six-game, 10-day road trip is what Portland needed to initiate the process of reversing what had been a negative course thus far."It's easy to kind of fall prey to it when things aren't going your way," Portland coach Terry Stotts said. "And I thought hopefully that's a big step for us." --Field Level Media
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