Photo © Scott Halleran/Getty Images.
Houston Rockets shooting guard James Harden helped clinch a 110-105 victory for his team over the Oklahoma City Thunder on Monday night, their first victory of the season. Harden scored 37 points in total.
This was also the first loss for the Thunder. The game was tight, with a score of 107-100 with two minutes left. Harden then widened the Rockets’ lead with a three, which he knocked down right in Russell Westbrook’s face. Westbrook then scored the Thunder’s final three-pointer with 44 seconds to go, and Dwight Howard finally made two free throws with 5.7 seconds left to win the Rockets the game. This was Howard’s second game of the season: he missed the opener after being suspended for flagrant fouls in the postseason and also rested on Sunday.
Kevin Durant led the Thunder with 29 points. Harden, meanwhile, was 12-of-26 from the field after a rough beginning to the season. His shooting average was below 30 percent in each of his first three games.
The lead in the game was highly contested early in the fourth quarter. A three-pointer by Patrick Beverley granted Houston a 90-89 lead with under nine minutes left.
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