With a hop and skip, Harden puts Jazz to bed in Houston

LOS ANGELES, USA – James Harden scored 31 points and grabbed 10 rebounds to power the Houston Rockets over the visiting Utah Jazz 111-102 on a busy Saturday, November 19 (Sunday Manila time) in the NBA.

Houston reserves produced 44 points, 19 rebounds and seven assists as the Rockets improved to 8-5 while Utah fell to 7-7 with a third consecutive loss.

Brazil big man Nene had 16 points and 6 rebounds while Eric Gordon contributed 20 points, 7 rebounds and 6 assists to provide the Rockets a boost when Harden was on the bench.

Clint Capela added 20 points, 8 rebounds and 5 assists for the Rockets, who moved within two games of Southwest division leader San Antonio.

Jazz forward Boris Diaw, out with a right leg injury, suited up for possible emergency duty. The Frenchman has played only 5 games this season.

Later league games include the Chicago Bulls (8-4) at Los Angeles Clippers (11-2) and Golden State (10-2) at Milwaukee (5-6).

At Detroit, Boston’s Al Horford sank a rebound layup with 1.3 seconds remaining to give the Celtics a 94-92 victory over the host Pistons.

Horford, back after missing nearly 3 weeks with a concussion, then blocked a jump shot at the buzzer by Australian forward Aron Baynes that would have second the game into over-time.

Isaiah Thomas scored 24 points to lead the Celtics while Horford added 18 points on 7-of-12 shooting plus 11 rebounds, 5 assists, 3 blocked shots and two steals.

Marcus Morris led Detroit with 24 points while Andre Drummond had 20 points and 17 rebounds.

Anthony Davis scored 38 points and grabbed 16 rebounds to power the New Orleans Pelicans over Charlotte 121-116.

Frenchman Nicolas Batum sank 3 free throws with 42 seconds remaining in over-time to pull the Hornets within 116-115.

Davis answered with a jumper to give the Pelicans a 3-point edge, but Batum added a free throw to pull Charlotte within two. Davis then grabbed a rebound from a Kimba Walker miss that led to a Jrue Holiday free throw and a 119-116 Pelicans edge with 10 seconds remaining.

Batum missed a 3-point shot with 5 seconds remaining and Tim Frazier added two free throws to create the final margin.

Walker led the Hornets with 25 points.

Goran Dragic led six double-figure scorers for Miami with 22 points in a 114-111 victory at Washington, their second triumph in a row after a six-game losing streak.

Washington’s Bradley Beal and John Wall each scored 34 points in a losing cause.

At Orlando, D.J. Augustin came off the bench to score 18 points, 10 of them in the fourth quarter, and lift the host Magic over Dallas 95-87. Orlando improved to 6-7 while the Mavericks slid to 2-10.

Dallas reserve Jonathan Gibson scored a game-high 26 points.

Joel Embiid scored 26 points to lead Philadelphia over Phoenix 120-105. – Rappler.com