Jamal Crawford scored a season-high 30 points to lift the Los Angeles Clippers over the Houston Rockets 117-109.
Star point guard Chris Paul could not play against the Rockets, but five players put up double-digit numbers. Eric Bledsoe and Blake Griffin had 19 points apiece, while Matt Barnes added 18 against Houston. Willie Green finished with 15 points for the Clippers.
For the Rockets, Harden was the top scorer with 23 points, Chandler Parsons added 17 points and shot seven out of ten attempts from the field and Carlos Delfino finished with 16 points.
Jeremy Lin and Marcus Morris added 12 points apiece against the Clippers, but could not stop them from winning their second straight game.
James Harden was disappointed with his team's fourth straight defeat.
"You can't do that, especially coming off a three-game road trip, a three-game losing streak," Harden said. "We've got to be better, especially on the defensive end. We've got to guard in order to win games. It's simple."
Houston outscored the Clippers 29-28 in the first quarter, but in the second both teams scored 30 points apiece.
The Clippers opened the third quarter with a 10-0 run and took a 68-59 lead with about nine minutes remaining. Eric Bledsoe, who started in the absence of Paul, ended the period with a 3-pointer. The Rockets, who entered the second half with a one-point lead, were completely outshined in the third quarter 32-18.
The Clippers entered the fourth quarter with a 13-point lead and Crawford extended it to 20 in the opening minutes of the last quarter by scoring 12 quickfire points.
"It's everybody honestly," Crawford said. "I've got the easy job just scoring, but Grant, Blake, all those guys put me in a position to score ... I just have to make the shots, they're doing all the hard work."
Houston outscored the Clippers 32-27 in the fourth quarter, but still lost the game by eight points.
"Willie did a great job for us in the third, and then Jamal obviously got going in the fourth to take over the game," Los Angeles coach Vinny Del Negro said.
The Clippers shot better in the game, making 42 out of 78 attempts from the field, whereas the Rocket had 41-of-82.
"We couldn't establish much defensively," Houston coach Kevin McHale said. "We played one side of the court, on the offensive end, in the third quarter. We just gave in the third quarter. We didn't have what we needed to have."
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