The guard James Harden returned to be the leader of the attack and winner of the Rockets of Houston that were imposed with facility by 117-103 to the Nets of Brooklyn and extended to five the streak of consecutive victories.
Harden, who stayed at the gates of a triple double, contributed 37 points, including 20 in the first quarter, captured 10 rebounds, distributed eight assists, recovered two balls, lost four and put two blocks in 36 minutes of action.
The Rockets’ star guard was also intractable with the 3-pointers scoring 8 of 13 attempts, while the team got 20 of 50 for 10 of 39 for the Nets.
The victory left the Rockets with a 16-4 record, the best in the Western Conference and the second in the league, only surpassed by the Boston Celtics (18-4).
The Rockets decided the game in the first quarter with a partial 43-26 and with 1:28 left, Harden had scored more points (20) than the Nets’ team (17).
The Swiss center Clint Capela also excelled in the indoor game by getting 20 points, six rebounds, three assists and two blocks.
While the base Chris Paul confirmed his condition as director of the game by distributing 14 assists, the best mark so far this season.
The Brazilian reserve center Nené Hilario did not play when he had a muscular pull in his right shoulder.
For the Nets, who had played the previous night against the Grizzlies of Memphis who won at home by 88-98, defeat that led to the dismissal of David Fizdale as a coach, they could never compete with the inspiration Rockers Rockets .
Reserve base Isaiah Whitehead added 24 points and topped the list of Nets scorers who had six players with double-digit numbers.
The guard Spencer Dinwiddie had 14 points, the base Caris LeVert came to 13 and reserve Sean Kilpatrick got another 12 entries, which did not prevent the fourth defeat of the Nets (7-13) in the last 5 games played.
The Rockets came to rest with the partial advantage of 11 points (66-55) and at the beginning of the fourth period had increased to 16 (96-80).
