Harden powers Rockets

[caption id="attachment_106118" align="alignleft"] Houston Rockets’ James Harden (L) shoots as Sacramento Kings’ Garrett Temple defends during their NBA game in Houston Wednesday. — AP
[/caption] LOS ANGELES — James Harden matched the franchise record for career triple-doubles to lead the Houston Rockets to a dominating 132-98 victory over the shorthanded Sacramento Kings Wednesday. Harden finished with 15 points, 14 assists and 11 rebounds to post his 14th career triple-double and equal the mark set by NBA Hall of Fame center Hakeem Olajuwon. Harden needed only 30 minutes to deliver his fifth triple-double on the season in front of a crowd of 15,000 at the Rockets’ Toyota Center arena. And the Rockets produced a season-high 40 assists on 50 field goals, their most since February 1995. “Everybody is getting shots, everybody is scoring the basketball. Everybody is happy,” Harden said. The Rockets improved to 19-7 on the season and won their eighth consecutive game. Houston also flirted with the NBA record for three-pointers, hitting 22 of 42 from behind the arc while cruising to the win. The Rockets extended their league record for consecutive games with at least 10 three-pointers at the 7:13 mark of the second quarter on a three from Sam Dekker. Forward Ryan Anderson led all five Houston starters in double figures with 22 points. Raptors 123, 76ers 114 DeMar DeRozan scored 31 points, 23 over a blistering 15-minute stretch mid-game, as the Toronto Raptors beat the Philadelphia 76ers 123-114. DeRozan, the NBA’s fifth-leading scorer, was 11 of 18 from the floor and 9 of 11 from the foul line. Kyle Lowry added 20 points, and Jonas Valanciunas 17 points and 10 rebounds for the Atlantic Division-leading Raptors (18-7). Grizzlies 93, Cavaliers 85 Center Marc Gasol posted a double-double with 17 points and 11 rebounds as the Memphis Grizzlies defeated the Cleveland Cavaliers 93-85. The Cavaliers (18-6) played without LeBron James, Kevin Love and Kyrie Irving — all of whom were rested and did not make the trip. Cleveland never led and trailed by 25 points in the fourth quarter. Memphis (18-9) got a game-high 20 points from guard Troy Daniels off the bench and he hit 4 of 8 3-pointers. Spurs 108, Celtics 101 Kawhi Leonard scored 26 points and Pau Gasol added 17 points and pulled down 13 rebounds as the San Antonio Spurs defeated the Boston Celtics 108-101. The Spurs’ Tony Parker had eight points in a two-and-a-half-minute stretch of the fourth quarter to help San Antonio (20-5) withstand a Celtics’ comeback attempt. Parker ended up with 16 points, 10 of them in the fourth quarter, while Manu Ginobili chimed in with 12. Jazz 109, Thunder 89 Rodney Hood scored 25 points and Gordon Hayward added 17 to lead the Utah Jazz to a 109-89 victory over the Oklahoma City Thunder. Utah (16-10) led from start to finish while shooting 58.3 percent from the field and 13-of-23 from 3-point range. Russell Westbrook tallied 27 points, six rebounds and five assists for Oklahoma City (15-11), which lost for the third time in four games. Clippers 113, Magic 108 Austin Rivers scored a season-high 25 points and hit seven 3-pointers while leading the Los Angeles Clippers to a 113-108 road victory over the Orlando Magic. Wizards 109, Hornets 106 John Wall had 25 points, 10 assists and seven steals as the Washington Wizards used their highest scoring quarter of the season to help defeat the Charlotte Hornets 109-106. Nets 107, Lakers 97 Brook Lopez scored eight of his 20 points in the final seven minutes as the Brooklyn Nets did enough down the stretch to defeat the Los Angeles Lakers 107-97. Pistons 95, Mavericks 85 Jon Leuer scored a season-high 19 points off the bench and the Detroit Pistons finished strongly to top the Dallas Mavericks 95-85. — Agencies