Harden's late 3 helps Rockets rally for OT win at Sacramento

SACRAMENTO, Calif. - The Rockets seemed whipped when they had their lowest-scoring first quarter of the season, out of it when they finished their lowest scoring half and done when the Kings led by 12 in the second half and by five with less than a minute left.

If the season had demonstrated anything, however, it was that they just need to keep games close and let James Harden take it from there.

Harden had been missed seven-consecutive 3s when he nailed the 3-pointer that sent the Rockets to overtime. Once there, the NBA's leading scorer dominated, pouring in 12 of his 44 points to drive the Rockets to a 113-109 overtime win Thursday in Sacramento.

Harden added eight assists. Pat Beverley had 15 points and a season-high 10 rebounds. Things got tight when he made just 1 of 4 free throws in the final seconds with Harden already sitting out.

Jason Terry, who had been booed throughout the game, made a pair of free throws and Harden added two more to finally secure the win, moving the Rockets to 6-0 in games decided by five or fewer points.

The Rockets barely rallied in time to get to overtime. With three minutes remaining in regulation, the Rockets were within two and had a good look - a Harden 3-pointer - for the lead. He missed, but moments later, Donatas Motiejunas, playing with five fouls, drew a charge on Darren Collison for the 15th Sacramento turnover of the second half.

Those turnovers and the Rockets second-half 3-point shooting had kept the Rockets in the game, but in the final minutes, they would need more.

Harden and Trevor Ariza both finished drives, but Rudy Gay put in a pull-up jumper and then found Derrick Williams for a 3-pointer and a three-point Sacramento lead with 1:33 remaining.

For several possessions, the Rockets could not match it. Ariza missed a 3 and Motiejunas fouled out going over Jason Thompson's back for the rebound. Thompson's free throws put Sacramento in front by five and Harden missed another 3, falling to 1 of 8 from beyond the arc.

Ariza was fouled going back up with the rebound and cut the lead to three. When Gay missed a 3-pointer, the Rockets had a last chance.

They needed most of the shot clock to get it, but without a 3-pointer since the first quarter, Harden nailed his 26-footer with 20.5 seconds left to the tie the game.

Gay got a good look, pulling up from 18 feet. He missed with 1.9 seconds remaining, with the Rockets left with nine-tenths of a second.

They looked for a lob to Ariza, but Pat Beverley could never see him get free. He did get an inbounds pass to Harden, but his rushed turnaround jumper missed badly.

After an ugly, lethargic first half, the Rockets made their run to start the second half, with a 6-0 burst that moved them back in the game. When Pat Beverley drained a 3 five minutes into the second half, the Rockets were within two, closer than they had been since the game's first basket.

Moments later, however, Beverley was tangled up with Rudy Gay under the basket. Gay shoved Beverley near the back of his neck. Beverley shoved back. They exchanged assorted opinions about the other's toughness and both were hit with technical fouls.

After Gay's free throws, however, the Kings took off. While the Rockets took and missed nothing but 3s, the Kings ran through a 10-0 run to rebuild the 12-point lead.

The Rockets, however, made another run, this time rolling with enough 3-pointers to finally break through for their first lead of the game. After making just 22.2 percent of their 3s through three quarters, the Rockets made of 5 of 8 to start the fourth, including a pair from rarely-used Troy Daniels who put them in front, 80-78, with 6:48 left.

The lead lasted just 17 seconds, but the Rockets were back in the game to stay.

The way things started, that seemed extremely unlikely.

After an 0 for 7 start to the game and a 1 of 7 start to the second quarter when the Kings' shaky bench was on the floor and the Rockets had most of their starters in, they somehow were very much in the game.

The Rockets had made just 14 of 45 (31.1 percent) of their first-half shots. They scored fewer points in a first quarter (16) and first half (36) than in any game this season and one fewer than they scored against the Kings in the first quarter of their first meeting.

All of that was just the result. The problem came from the start of the game when they struggled to generate intensity a night after showing so much at Golden State, to the point that even when they got it going, they could never make it last until the second half when they finally absolutely had to.

jonathan.feigen@chron.com

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