BOSTON — James Harden scored 32 points and Dwight Howard added 12 points and 12 rebounds to spark the Houston Rockets past Boston 102-98 Friday, snapping the Celtics’ 14-game NBA home win streak.
Five days after halting Toronto’s 12-game home win streak, the Rockets ended the longest Boston home victory run since a franchise-record 18-game streak in 1990-91.
At 33-32, the Rockets are level with Dallas for the last two Western Conference playoff spots while the Celtics stumbled to 39-27, third in the Eastern Conference.
“It’s getting there,” said Harden, who is averaging 34.5 points a game over Houston’s past 13 starts. “We have one more game to finish the road trip off the right way.” Boston had not lost at home since Jan. 6.
“We didn’t really know what it felt like,” Celtics star Isaiah Thomas said. “It was tough getting that feeling again especially at home. I feel like we let our fans down.”
Warriors 128, Trail Blazers 112: Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson dominated their matchup with the Portland backcourt of Damian Lillard and C.J. McCollum, exploding for 71 points in the Golden State Warriors’ 128-112 blowout of the Trail Blazers.
Curry had 34 points and Thompson a game-high 37 as the Warriors (58-6) avenged their most lopsided loss of the season en route to their 47th consecutive home-court win.
Heat 118, Bulls 96: The short-handed Chicago Bulls put up a good fight for three quarters, but the Miami Heat dominated the fourth to win 118-96. Chicago (32-32) played without injured starting guards Jimmy Butler (knee sprain) and Derrick Rose (groin strain).
The Bulls trailed just 84-81 starting the fourth, but were outscored 34-15 in the quarter and 64-38 in the second half.
Hornets 118, Pistons 103: Marvin Williams had 22 points and five 3-pointers and the Charlotte Hornets stretched their winning streak to six with a 118-103 victory over the Detroit Pistons.
Williams scored 11 points in the first quarter as the Hornets raced to a 19-point lead in the first half and never trailed.
76ers 95, Nets 89: Seldom-used forward Carl Landry scored 16 points as the depleted Philadelphia 76ers hung on to beat the Brooklyn Nets 95-89, snapping a 13-game losing streak.
Nerlens Noel added 13 points, 11 rebounds and three blocked shots for the Sixers, who improved to 9-56. The NBA’s worst team, they can no do no worse than equal the worst full-season record in league history, the 9-73 mark of Philadelphia’s 1972-73 team.
Timberwolves 99, Thunder 96: Gorgui Dieng scored 25 points to lead the Minnesota Timberwolves to a 99-96 victory over the Oklahoma City Thunder.
Dieng was 7 of 12 from the field and 11 of 11 from the free-throw line. Andrew Wiggins scored 20 points and Ricky Rubio posted 12 assists and 13 points, including the game-winning 3-pointer as the Timberwolves improved to 21-45.
Grizzlies 121, Pelicans 114 (OT): Lance Stephenson scored a career-high 33 points and Matt Barnes added a triple-double of 26 points, 11 rebounds and 10 assists to lead the injury-depleted Memphis Grizzlies to a 121-114 overtime victory over the New Orleans Pelicans .
Stephenson, whose previous career high was 28 points, scored six of his points in overtime, including a spinning, left-handed layup that gave the Grizzlies a 112-106 lead with 1:16 left. Memphis’ JaMychal Green added 21 points and 10 rebounds and had seven overtime points.
Jazz 114, Wizards 93: Shelvin Mack had his best game of his career and the Utah Jazz looked like a different team after a rough couple of weeks in a 114-93 victory over the Washington Wizards.
Mack, coming off of a couple of subpar outings, exploded for a career-high 27 points on 11 of 17 shooting to lift Utah to only its second win in nine games. The fifth-year point guard, traded to the Jazz on the deadline last month, also had four assists and three rebounds.
Other results: Magic 107, Kings 100; Clippers 101, Knicks 94.
