Rockets 104 - 93 76ers
Final
  for this game

Harden scores 35, leads Rockets past Sixers

Nov 4, 2014 - 5:18 AM Philadelphia, PA (SportsNetwork.com) - James Harden needed just seven made field goals to drop 35 points on the Philadelphia 76ers, leading the Houston Rockets to a 104-93 win on Monday.

Harden hit 17-of-18 from the free throw line and added nine rebounds and five assists for Houston, which improved to 4-0 on the season. Trevor Ariza gave 24 points and Dwight Howard scored 11 with 14 rebounds and four blocks.

"If we want to win a championship, we can't have any mental lapses. Every night has to be the same intensity," Howard said.

Through four games, Harden has 25 baskets and is shooting 51-of-54 from the stripe.

Tony Wroten paced the winless Sixers with 20 points in the setback, while rookie big man Nerlens Noel contributed a team-high five assists and six steals.

"No matter if we're down two or down 20 we're never going to give up. The NBA is a game of runs," Wroten said.

Houston made seven 3-pointers in the first quarter to claim a 32-19 lead after one. Ariza was a perfect 4-of-4 from distance, with his 14 points leading the way. Jason Terry also hit a pair of triples off the bench during a 13-2 run to close the stanza.

Philly countered with a 17-3 push to open the second quarter and took its first lead. Houston went just over four minutes without a field goal before Terrence Jones got a difficult runner to go at 6:42.

K.J. McDaniels hit consecutive threes late in the period to put the Sixers up, but Harden beat the buzzer with a bucket to send the Rockets into halftime leading 55-54.

Four straight Philadelphia turnovers early in the third quarter led to eight points, as the Rockets regained control. They led the rest of the way, but the young Sixers didn't go down quietly.

In the final seconds of the third, Harden drove and tried to put Noel on his highlight reel with a two-handed jam, but Noel denied the dunk to a chorus of cheers from the home crowd.

It was a six-point game midway through the fourth when the Rockets put the game away. Isaiah Canaan hit a pair of 3-pointers around a Wroten layup, and out of a timeout, Ariza and Harden hit from deep.

Game Notes

Houston is 4-0 for the first time since winning six straight to begin the 1996-97 season ... Rockets point guard Patrick Beverley missed his second straight game with a hamstring injury ... The Sixers have lost all four of their games by at least 11 points.






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