Detroit Pistons forward Blake Griffin and Houston Rockets guard James Harden react after Griffin was called for an offensive foul late in Wednesday's NBA clash in Houston. Harden scored a season-high 43 points as the Rockets won 126-124, extending their win streak to five games. [Photo/IC]
HOUSTON - The Rockets are on a roll, putting their terrible start behind them.
James Harden scored a season-high 43 points and Clint Capela added 27 on Wednesday night to help Houston withstand a late run by the Pistons and get their fifth straight victory, 126-124. The Rockets have won eight of 10 to improve to 9-7. They led by 14 with about five minutes left, but Blake Griffin made five 3-pointers that helped Detroit cut the lead to four points with about 90 seconds left.
Houston struggled to contain Griffin late after defensive stopper PJ Tucker was ejected in the third quarter after being handed two technical fouls for arguing with officials.
"With PJ getting kicked out of the game early it put more minutes on our guys," Harden said. "But we found a way to win. There's going to be games like that where you've got to figure it out."
Griffin had a turnover and a charge after his fifth 3 and Harden, who made all 19 of his free-throw attempts, drained two from the line to make it 122-116 with 19.1 seconds left.
Ish Smith added a 3-pointer to cut the lead to three points with 9.6 seconds left, but Harden made two more free throws.
Griffin was fouled on a 3-point attempt with 3.6 seconds remaining and made the first two free throws before missing the third. It was Harden at the line again after that, and he made both shots before Smith made a 3 at the buzzer.
"It was big," Chris Paul said. "Blake got hot down the stretch but for us it's just about piling up wins."
Griffin led the Pistons with 37 points and 11 rebounds, while Andre Drummond added 20 points and 11 rebounds for the Pistons.
"At the end of the game, two turnovers down the stretch killed us," Griffin said. "It doesn't matter how many points you score... in the big moments, that's where I have to be better."
Detroit Pistons forward Blake Griffin (23) controls the ball as Houston Rockets guard James Harden (13) defends during the fourth quarter at Toyota Center in Houston, Texas, USA, on Nov 21, 2018. [Photo/IC]
Detroit used a run to cut Houston's lead to six points with about six minutes left before the Rockets scored the next eight points, with six from Harden to make it 113-99 about a minute later.
But Griffin made three 3-pointers, with the first two on consecutive possessions, to fuel a 9-2 run that got Detroit to 115-108 with 3 1/2 minutes left.
James Ennis made a 3-pointer for Houston after that, but Griffin scored the next five points, with another 3-pointer to cut the lead to 118-113 with two minutes left.
Harden added a basket on a goaltending call, but Griffin made yet another 3 to make it 120-116 before his late errors.
The Rockets scored the first seven points of the third quarter to make it 65-57, but Detroit scored the next eight, with 3s by Reggie Jackson and Langston Galloway to tie it.
The Rockets were up 81-73 later in the third when Tucker got hit by Griffin on a screen and began complaining to an official.
He received a technical foul, but that didn't stop him from continuing to get in the officials' face and yell at him, drawing a second technical and an ejection.
Chasing 'The Dream'
Harden's performance on Wednesday night gave him 13,391 career points with the Rockets to move him past Rudy Tomjanovich and into third place on the team's all-time scoring list.
Harden was pleased to move up the list but knows taking first place from Hakeem "The Dream" Olajuwon, who is Houston's all-time leading scorer with 26,511 points, will be a huge task.
"We all know how great he was in the league and for this team," Harden said of Tomjanovich.
"So, it's an honor. But I've got a long way to go to catch The Dream."
