Nov 29, 2015; New York, NY, USA; Houston Rockets shooting guard James Harden (13) shoots the ball over New York Knicks power forward Kristaps Porzingis (6) defending during the 2nd qtr of the game at Madison Square Garden. The Rockets won 116-111. Gregory J. Fisher-USA TODAY Sports
NEW YORK — Guard James Harden scored 26 points and the Houston Rockets rallied from a 14-point deficit in the final eight-plus minutes of regulation and pulled out a wild 116-111 overtime victory over the New York Knicks.
Reserve guard Marcus Thornton added seven of his 18 in overtime while forward Clint Capela also had 18. Trevor Ariza added 16 and center Dwight Howard contributed 14 for the Rockets, who won for the third time in their last 10 games.
Guard Arron Afflalo scored a season-high 31 points for the Knicks, who lost their fourth straight despite shooting 57.7 percent. Rookie Kristaps Porzingis closed out his first month by getting 20 and 13 rebounds for his eighth double-double while Lance Thomas contributed 15 in place of Carmelo Anthony, who was scratched at the last minute due to an illness.
The Rockets faced a 91-77 deficit with 8:05 remaining but closed regulation with a 24-10 spurt and shot 57 percent during the fourth quarter. They forged a 101-101 deadlock on a 3-pointer by Thornton with 32 seconds remaining and neither team could get the win in regulation as Thomas missed a 23-foot jumper and Harden missed a 19-footer right before the buzzer.
The teams traded inside shots on their first possession of overtime but Thornton scored five straight points, upping the lead to 108-103 on a pull-up jumper and a 3-pointer from the left corner in front of the Knicks bench with 3:36 left. New York cut it to 108-107 on consecutive hoops by Afflalo and on Houston’s next possession Howard split a pair at the line.
Afflalo then pump-faked his defender and hit a 19-footer from the left wing, forging a 109-109 tie with 1:59 left. Harden then coasted in for the layup but a 14-footer with 91 seconds by Galloway evened the game at 111-111.
Houston finally seized the lead for good when Ariza hit an open 3-pointer in front of the Knicks bench after Afflalo was screened by Howard. After New York missed a chance to tie, Harden missed a 3-pointer with 21.9 seconds left and Afflalo misfired on a long jumper with 10.5 seconds to play before Calderon misfired on a 3-pointer two seconds later.
NOTES: Houston F/C Donatas Motiejunas participated at the morning shootaround and is hopeful of returning to the team at some point in the near future. He is scheduled to have his back examined Tuesday and if it goes well, he could be cleared to start practicing for the first time since last March’s back surgery. … New York coach Derek Fisher coached in his 100th career game since taking the job one week after Oklahoma City was eliminated in the 2014 Western Conference finals and of the franchise’s 27 coaches, he is the 15th to coach at least 100 games. Before the game when it was mentioned his team ranks 25th in offensive pace, he said he wanted the Knicks to play quicker. When asked for the reason he said: “We’re not running as fast.”
