Eric Gordon scored 30 points and James Harden added 10 in his return from injury as the Houston Rockets defeated the Minnesota Timberwolves 116-98 on Thursday.
Harden was back in the lineup after missing seven games with a left hamstring strain and finished with 10 points on three-of-15 shooting. He played 26 minutes and also had seven assists, two steals and two blocks.
Chris Paul had 19 points, nine assists and six rebounds, and Clint Capela added 20 points in the win. Houston has won 15 of the past 17 meetings with Minnesota, including a 10-game winning streak at home.
Coming into the NBA contest, Harden was leading the league in scoring (32.3 points) and ranked third in assists (9.1). He suffered the injury in the fourth quarter of a double-overtime victory over the Los Angeles Lakers on December 31.
Harden also extended his streak of double-digit scoring games to 227, the second-longest active streak behind Cleveland’s LeBron James (834).
Gordon’s three-pointer helped the Rockets finish the third quarter on a 16-4 run to take an 89-70 lead into the fourth with their largest advantage of the game.
With Rockets forward Trevor Ariza sitting out the first part of a two-game suspension for a postgame locker room incident on Monday in Los Angeles, Luc Mbah a Moute started in Ariza’s spot, scoring 14 points.
Along with Ariza, guard Gerald Green was also serving the first of a two-game suspension for the altercation with the Clippers.
Jimmy Butler led Minnesota with 23 points, and Karl-Anthony Towns added 22 points and 16 rebounds and five blocks. Andrew Wiggins finished with 16 points.
Elsewhere, Isaiah Thomas scored 21 points and hit the go-ahead free throws with 11 seconds remaining as the Cleveland Cavaliers blew a 23-point lead and held off the Orlando Magic for a 104-103 win Thursday night at Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland.
Thomas shot 6 of 15 but also made six of seven free throws. His biggest points occurred after Orlando briefly took its first lead in the final minute.
Thomas gave the Cavaliers a seemingly safe 98-91 lead by hitting a 3-pointer with 5:31 remaining, but Orlando stormed back and took a 103-102 lead with 31 seconds left after Shelvin Mack rebounded a missed 3-pointer by Aaron Gordon and converted a short jumper in the lane.
On the next possession, Kevin Love missed a contested dunk but Thomas grabbed the rebound with 15 seconds left and was fouled by Mack four seconds left. After Thomas restored Cleveland’s lead, Elfrid Payton missed a layup. Following a replay review, the game ended with a jump ball at center court with two-tenths of a second remaining.
LeBron James scored 16 points as the Cavaliers carried a 67-47 lead into halftime and held a 23-point lead early in the third. He is 25 points away from becoming the seventh player in NBA history to reach 30,000 career points.
Love added 12 while Dwyane Wade contributed 11 as the Cavaliers won for the fourth time in 13 games despite committing 19 turnovers.
Payton finished with 19 points and eight assists for Orlando, which has lost 28 of its last 33 games. Evan Fournier and Gordon added 17 apiece as the Magic outscored Cleveland 56-37 in the second half but also missed 17 of 22 3-pointers.
With about a minute left in the third, Jonathon Simmons tracked down a loose ball near the 3-point line and coasted in for a dunk, cutting the lead to 80-78. After Wade made an errant pass into the seats, Simmons tied the game at 80 by hitting two free throws with 49.2 seconds left.
Cleveland took an 84-80 lead into the fourth following hoops by Derrick Rose and Jeff Green on its last two possessions of the third before nearly losing down the stretch.