Rockets 110, Clippers 105
James Harden had 21 points and 10 assists as Houston ended a six-game losing streak against visiting Los Angeles.
Corey Brewer added 20 points off the bench and Donatas Motiejunas contributed 18 points and nine rebounds for Houston, which had lost nine of 10 against the Clippers. Trevor Ariza finished with 17 points and Terrence Jones scored 14 for the Rockets.
Jamal Crawford scored 18 of his 24 points in the first half for the Clippers. Chris Paul added 22 points and 14 assists and Houston native DeAndre Jordan finished with 22 points and 19 rebounds for Los Angeles.
The Clippers took an 85-84 lead into the fourth, but the Rockets scored the first six points on 3-pointers by Brewer and Ariza to take the lead for good. Brewer scored twice inside to push the lead to eight and the Clippers began putting their starters back in, but Houston didn’t let up, scoring five more points in the 9-0 run that extended the lead to 13 with 7:31 remaining.
Harden rolled his right ankle with 3:57 left when he stepped on Paul’s foot while driving to the basket, but he stayed in the game and hit a 3-pointer with 2:31 remaining, which pushed the lead back to 11. The Clippers crawled back within four on Crawford’s drive with 37 seconds on the clock but missed four chances to draw even closer.
GAME NOTEBOOK: Harden, a Southern California native, came in shooting 34.9 percent from the floor and averaging 13.4 points in 18 career games against the Clippers, his lowest career numbers against any NBA team. He shot 4-for-13 Wednesday. … Houston was without starting PG Patrick Beverley (flu-like symptoms) for a second straight game. …. Jordan has at least 15 rebounds in six consecutive games.