Houston Rockets nip Portland Trail Blazers in overtime

Houston, March 10 (IANS): James Harden scored 41 points in the NBA to lead the Houston Rockets past the Portland Trail Blazers 118-113 at the Toyota Center here.

The Rockets had the most difficult game since New Year Sunday. Portland opened with a run of 10-0 and led 30-28 at the end of the first quarter. They continued to outscore the hosts 24-19 and 31-26 in the second and third quarters respectively, reports Xinhua.

It was in the fourth quarter that Houston made a comeback and cut the double-figure deficit to single. With seconds left, Harden scored a 3-pointer to enable his team to hold on to an overtime.

Jeremy Lin, who came off the Rockets bench, scored six points, half of what his team scored in the overtime. Portland only had seven points in their final endeavour to lose the game.

Harden scored 29 points after halftime to finish with 41, to go with 10 rebounds, six assists and six steals. Lin chipped in 26 points, Dwight Howard added 17 with 12 rebounds and Chandler Parsons had 16 points for Houston.

LaMarcus Aldridge led the Trail Blazers with 28 points and 12 rebounds.

It was Houston’s fifth win in a row and the team is 44-19 in the season while Portland is 42-21.