Harden's 43 lead Rockets over Kings

[November 07, 2015]  SACRAMENTO, Calif. -- Guard James Harden acknowledged he's been slow to find himself at the outset of the 2015-16 campaign, that it's been a test of his patience. Watching the basketball clank off the rim as often as he did in Houston's first five games was not a usual sight.

Against Sacramento on Friday, he took a step in a different, more positive direction.

"I've tried to be patient, and take what the defenses have been giving me," Harden said after lighting up Sleep Train Arena for 43 points and helping Houston hold off the Sacramento Kings 116-110. "I've been trying to find something, anything."

He found what he needed against Sacramento, filling the nets on 13-for-23 shooting, including four 3-pointers. He also added 13 assists and six rebounds as the Rockets (3-3) won their third straight after a three-game skid to start the campaign.

"We know that we can score the basketball with anyone," Harden said. "But to get where we want to be, we know it's going to come on the defensive side of the ball. We've got to play better defensively as a team, and we started to do that tonight."
 

That Harden also started putting the ball in the net helped, too. The NBA's runner-up in the MVP balloting last season lugged in shooting percentage of 29.4 percent over the season's first five games, the second-worst mark in the NBA.

But he found his touch in the second quarter, canning 8 of 11 shots.

"He moved the ball really well, and we did that pretty well as a team, too," Rockets coach Kevin McHale said. "That got him some open looks in rhythm."

Guard Trevor Ariza added 18 points, guard Marcus Thornton had 16 points and four 3-pointers, and center Clint Capela had 12 points and 11 rebounds for the Rockets, who never trailed after bolting to a 21-6 first-quarter lead.

"The nightmare when you play Houston is you gotta figure out layups and 3s," Kings coach George Karl said. "First half, we did a good job covering the 3s, and we didn't cover the layups. In the second half we covered the layup and didn't cover the 3."

Forward Omri Casspi scored 22 points for the Kings (1-5), leading a dynamite performance from Sacramento's reserves. But the Kings failed to win without center DeMarcus Cousins for the third straight time. Cousins, out with a strained right Achilles' tendon, has not played since Oct. 31 and won't play Saturday against the Golden State Warriors.

Guard Darren Collision had 19 points and nine assists for Sacramento, guard Ben McLemore added 11 points, and guard Seth Curry canned 3 of 4 shots, including both attempts from behind the 3-point arc, to finish with eight. Overall, the Kings' reserves outscored Houston's 67-13.

"It was just energy," Collision said. "You're gonna have some games like that. That's just what we happened to do tonight."

The Rockets also were shorthanded, more so than usual for this season. Houston coach Kevin McHale chose not to play forward Dwight Howard in the first of back-to-back contests, and guard Patrick Beverly missed the contest with a concussion.

Without them, Houston twice broke to big leads, only to watch the Kings erase most of them. Each time, the Rockets received just enough to hold Sacramento off.

Harden's 3-pointer began a stretch of eight straight Houston points that put the Rockets up 96-86, after a furious Sacramento rally sparked by Curry cut it to 88-86. Curry's 3-pointer and driving layup were part of an 21-5 Sacramento run that nearly erased Houston's 83-65 lead.

"The bench came in and got juiced and played the game at a high level for an extended period of time," Karl said. "The hole we dug, we might have just run out of gas."

Sacramento's bench also keyed a first-half run that brought the Kings within 31-30 early in the second after the Rockets streaked to a 19-4 lead in the opening period.

NOTES: The Rockets also were without F Terrence Jones, who has missed four straight games with a cut on his eyelid. F Donatas Motiejunas hasn't played this season after having offseason surgery on his back. ... The Kings were outscored in seven of the first 12 quarters they've played without C DeMarcus Cousins, but haven't been better by four points in any of the periods they've won without him. Cousins also will sit out Sacramento's home game tonight against the Golden State Warriors. ... This was the opening game in the second of 18 back-to-back contests for the Rockets this season. Houston split the opening pair. ... Sacramento used its fifth starting lineup in six games, with F Kosta Koufos rejoining the first five for the first time since the opener, and F Marco Belinelli getting his first start of the season. G Rajon Rono and F Rudy Gay are the only Kings to start all six contests. ... The Kings won't play consecutive home games on back-to-back nights again this season.

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