Harden has 50-point triple-double, Rockets beat Kings

HOUSTON (AP) — James Harden had 50 points 11 rebounds and 10 assists, scoring 10 straight Houston points down the stretch to help the Rockets beat the Sacramento Kings 119-108 on Saturday.

Harden had his 42nd career triple-double and third 50-point game in the last six. He made seven 3-pointers to become the ninth player in NBA history to reach 2,000 career 3s.

Houston had a three-point lead when Harden re-entered with less than seven minutes left. Willie Cauley-Stein made an alley-oop dunk to cut it to one before Harden scored all of Houston’s points in a 10-2 run that made it 111-102 with three minutes to go. Harden grabbed the rebound after a miss by Marvin Bagley and found Clint Capela for a dunk that pushed the lead to 113-104.

Capela added 24 points and 15 rebounds, and Chis Paul had 22 points. Houston has won four of five.

Bogdan Bogdanovic had 24 points for the Kings. They have lost two straight and fell to 0-3 against Houston this season.

Sacramento led by two to start the fourth before the Rockets used a 7-2 run, capped by a 3 from Paul, to take a 98-95 lead with about nine minutes left. The Kings made three free throws to tie it, but P.J. Tucker made a 3-pointer to put Houston up 101-98 with about seven minutes remaining.

The Rockets had a 3-point lead at halftime and opened the third quarter with an 8-2 run, with 3s from Eric Gordon and Paul, to make it 71-62.

An 11-2 spurt by the Kings tied it at 83-83 with about 3 1/2 minutes left in the quarter. De’Aaron Fox and Harrison Barnes had 3-pointers in that stretch and Buddy Hield added a 3-point play.

Houston missed 3-point attempts in a row to allow the Kings to close the gap.

Harden, who made 17 of 18 free throws, finally ended the drought when he hit one from the corner right after that to put the Rockets back on top and he made a layup a few seconds later to make it 88-83.

But the Kings scored the next 10 points, with eight from Bagley, to take a 93-88 lead.

Paul made a 3-pointer for Houston’s first points in 2 1/2 to cap the third quarter and cut the lead to 93-91 entering the fourth quarter.

TIP-INS

Kings: Harry Giles missed his fifth game with a bruised thigh. … Fox and coach Dave Joerger both received technical fouls in the second quarter. … Hield had 21 points, and Bagley added 20.

Rockets: Capela has at least 10 rebounds in a career-high 12 straight games. … Kenneth Faried sat out for the third straight game with a sore left knee. … Gerald Green missed his fourth game with a strained groin. Coach Mike D’Antoni said he expects him to return by the middle of next week. … Harden has scored 30 points or more 53 times this season.

UP NEXT

Kings: At San Antonio on Sunday night.

Rockets: At Sacramento on Tuesday night.