Wednesday 26 December 2018 09:00, UK
James Harden poured in 41 points to lift the Houston Rockets to a 113-109 victory over the Oklahoma City Thunder.
The Beard's game-winning contribution came on 15-of-35 shooting. He made five of his 16 shots from behind the three-point arc and dished out seven assists. It was his seventh consecutive 30-plus-point game.
Harden opened his account a minute into the game, splitting the Thunder defense to penetrate into the paint before scooping a left-handed finish over Thunder center Steven Adams. He followed that up with an inventive through-the-legs bounce pass to set up a bucket for team-mate Clint Capela.
After the Thunder built a 48-38 lead on an Adams alley-oop dunk, Harden converted two free throws, a jumper at the elbow and a three-pointer in succession.
In the fourth quarter, Harden showed off his distribution skills as a drive-and-dish gave Capela an easy baseline dunk to push Houston three points ahead.
The Rockets' franchise star then found Capela with a clever bounce pass to set up the Houston big man for another big dunk that extended the lead to five and pave the way for the Rockets' win.
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