James Harden's 31 points and seven assists guided the Houston Rockets past the New Orleans Hornets 104-92.
Omer Asik added 21 points and eight rebounds, Patrick Patterson had 15 points and 10 rebounds and Chandler Parsons finished with 10 points and 10 rebounds for the Rockets.
New Orleans took a two-point lead in the first quarter by scoring 23 points, whereas the Rockets could add only 21. The second quarter was different and Houston turned the game in their favor by outscoring the Hornets 28-21 and thus entering the second half with a five-point lead.
For the Hornets, Ryan Anderson was the leading scorer with 18 points and seven rebounds off the bench, while Greivis Vasquez had 15 points and 14 assists. Robin Lopez and Jason Smith finished with 12 points apiece.
Houston, who shot a season-high 16 3-pointers against Atlanta two days back, made only five out of 24 attempts from beyond the 3-point arc against the Hornets. Rockets made 41-of-83 shots overall, whereas the Hornets finished had 38-of-90.
"They didn't hit the 3s that they normally hit, but they just kept attacking our guards," New Orleans coach Monty Williams said. "They played in our paint all night long."
Even Harden did not shoot well from the 3-point arc and had only two 3-pointers from eight attempts, but he did score 16 points inside the paint.
"I think that shows the maturity that we're growing and that we're getting better," Harden said. "Sometimes our offense isn't on point, but we're finding ways to score."
In the third quarter, Houston again outscored the Rockets 25-22 to extend their lead to eight points. Harden and Asik scored 18 of their team's 25 in the third period.
Anderson hit a three-point shot to tie the game for New Orleans at 82 with less than seven minutes left, but the Rockets again took a sizeable lead with a 10-2 run.
"They shoot the ball so well and when they run, they can capitalize very quickly," Williams said. "We just got beat up in the fourth quarter and weren't able to come back."
Patterson had 13 points in the fourth quarter to help the Rockets score 30 points against the Hornets' 26 to hand New Orleans their 14th defeat in the last 16 games.
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