James Harden Leads Rockets To 106-100 Win Over Cavaliers Without LeBron James

James Harden scored 27 points, 18 of them in the fourth quarter, to lead the Houston Rockets to a 106-100 victory over the Cleveland Cavaliers at the Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland on Tuesday night. The Cavaliers were missing LeBron James, who rested.

James Harden Leads Rockets To 106-100 Win Over Cavaliers

Although Cleveland led 62-42 with 10:49 left in the third quarter, the Rockets rallied from this big deficit to win the game. The Rockets outscored the Cavs 35-16 in the fourth quarter.

“That’s what the first three quarters were for — to figure out what they were doing,” Harden said. “Even when we got down 20 points, we felt confident because they weren’t shooting the ball well, even when they were winning.”

The Rockets (37-38) have now won two out of three games since a three-game skid, and are now eighth in the Western Conference, half a game ahead of the Dallas Mavericks.

The Cavs (52-22), meanwhile, have now fallen to 1-3 sans LeBron this season, and 4-13 since the beginning of last season. They lead the Toronto Raptors by 2.5 games for the top seed in the East.

Dwight Howard’s free throw with 2:13 left put Houston ahead 95-94. Harden’s 3-pointer then made it 98-94 before Cleveland guard Kyrie Irving hit a 3-pointer with 1:30 left, making it a one-point game.

The game marked the 12 time the Rockets have come back from a double-digit deficit to win a game. Michael Beasley scored 17 points while Trevor Ariza added 15 for Houston. Howard had 11 points and 11 rebounds.

Cavaliers forward Tristan Thompson, who played in his 362nd consecutive game, the longest streak in franchise history, scored 16 points and had 10 rebounds. Kevin Love added 13 points and 11 rebounds.

“They got stops and we couldn’t make a shot,” Cleveland coach Tyronn Lue said. “They were able to get out in transition and that kind of got James Harden going. That got him feeling good about himself.”

Lue stated on Monday that James would sit out the game as the Cavs try to rest their key players as much as possible over the last few games of the regular season.

During Tuesday night’s game, James sat on the bench and joined Lue near mid-court to scream out instructions late in the second quarter.

The Cavaliers made six 3-pointers in the second and built a 59-40 halftime lead, but finished 14 of 40 from behind the arc.

Caption: HOUSTON, TX – MARCH 14: James Harden #13 of the Houston Rockets takes the basketball down the court during their game against the Memphis Grizzlies at the Toyota Center on March 14, 2016 in Houston, Texas.