Harden surpasses 15K-point mark as Rockets beat Nets

NEW YORK — James Harden scored 36 points, surpassing 15,000 for his career, and the Houston Rockets beat the Brooklyn Nets, 123-113, on Tuesday night (Wednesday Manila time) for their fifth straight victory.

Chris Paul added 25 points for the Rockets, who kept right on rolling in their first game since their nationally televised romp in Cleveland on Saturday.

Both teams made 16 3-pointers in an entertaining shootout between Mike D'Antoni's Rockets and the Nets of Kenny Atkinson, who assisted D'Antoni in New York and has the Nets trying to do some of the things Houston does on offense.

But it's one thing to be like the Rockets and another to beat them. Houston simply went to another gear when Brooklyn took the lead late in the third quarter and never stopped scoring long enough in the fourth to let the Nets get too close.

DeMarre Carroll scored 21 points for the Nets and Spencer Dinwiddie added 18 points and nine assists. Brooklyn has lost seven of its last eight.

The Nets had an 84-80 lead when Dinwiddie hit from nearly 10 feet behind the arc with 3:38 remaining in the third. The Rockets charged back with 11 straight points, including two 3-pointers by Gerald Green, to go up 91-84.

Brooklyn ended the run with a pair of free throws but Paul then was fouled behind the line and made all three. He scored the final basket of the period to make it 96-86 when Nene freed him for a layup with a devastating pick on Caris LeVert, knocking him out of the game.