James Harden pours in 58 points, but Nets rally to stun Rockets in overtime
James Harden extended his streak of 30-point games with another monster showing, but the only stat that mattered to him was the disheartening loss the Houston Rockets suffered at home.
Harden poured in a season-high 58 points Wednesday — two days after scoring 57 — only to watch the Brooklyn Nets stage a late rally to notch a 145-142 overtime victory in Houston. After the Nets rallied late in regulation to force the extra frame, they scored the final 10 points of overtime for their second consecutive win over a top contender.
"Frustrating," Harden said. "Very frustrating."
Houston attempted an NBA-record 70 3-pointers, and the teams shot a record 106 combined. The Rockets went 23-of-70 from deep and attempted more 3s than 2-pointers (35) and free throws (34) combined. The Nets were 16-of-36 from long range.
Spencer Dinwiddie led Brooklyn with 33 points, including 18 in the final six minutes of the fourth quarter to rally the Nets, who beat the Boston Celtics on Monday. Dinwiddie hit three huge 3-pointers in the final 30 seconds to force overtime. He scored seven in overtime.
Harden shot 16-of-34 from the field overall but just 5-of-19 from 3-point range. He went 21-of-23 from the foul line and added 10 rebounds and six assists. Harden played 45 minutes and said fatigue was a factor down the stretch for the short-handed Rockets.
"A little bit," he said. "We were small. You've got James (Nunnally) out there in his first game and we had a couple of mistakes out there near the end. But give them credit, they made some big shots."
The reigning NBA MVP extended his run of consecutive 30-point games to 18, the longest streak since the NBA-ABA merger in 1976-77. He's averaging 42.2 points during the streak and now has four 50-point outings this season and 13 for his career, sixth-most in NBA history. Harden has topped 40 points in nine of his last 12 games.
Harden tied Elgin Baylor for the fifth-longest streak of 30-point games all-time. Baylor and Wilt Chamberlain are the only other players in NBA history with at least 30 points in 18 consecutive games, and both accomplished the feat in the early 1960s. Chamberlain had four such streaks, including an all-time record of 65 consecutive 30-point games during the 1961-62 season.
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