Harden Takes Over Late, Leads Rockets Past Clippers In Game 2 Of West Semis

James Harden had a bad shooting night and was foul trouble in key parts of the game but all he needed was one good final quarter to lead the Houston Rockets past the Los Angeles Clippers, 115-109 in Game 2 of the Western Conference semi-finals on Wednesday night.

Harden ended up with 32 points—half of which came in the fourth quarter—to push the Rockets to their first win in the series and avoided a 0-2 hole in the best-of-seven affair with the series shifting to Los Angeles in the next two games.

The Rockets actually started the game well and had the 35-24 lead after the first quarter but the advantage evaporated in the second quarter with the Clippers eventually getting the halftime lead, 65-56. The Clippers pushed it to thirteen points, 69-56 in the opening moments of the third quarter but the home team rallied and cut it down to just two points, 85-83 for the Clippers entering the final canto.

From there, Harden took over, scoring eight points in the first four minutes of the final quarter to give the Rockets a 98-89 advantage and they never relinquished the lead.

The most consistent player for the Rockets for the night was Dwight Howard—though he missed 13-of-21 shots from the free throw line—who finished with 24 points and 16 rebounds. The Rockets three other starters also finished in double-figure scoring; Terrence Jones had 10 points and added 8 boards; Trevor Ariza also had a double-double with 15 points and 13 rebounds; and Jason Terry had 10 markers. Off the bench, the Rockets got 11 points from Corey Brewer and 8 points from Josh Smith.

For the Clippers, Blake Griffin followed up his triple-double with another big statline: 34 points and 15 rebounds. But his effort and his team’s weren’t enough as the Clippers missed Chris Paul, who is still out because of a hamstring injury.

Game 3 of the Rockets-Clippers series is on Friday in Los Angeles.

To contact author of this article, email j.quizon@IBTimes.com.au.