Mavericks Fall To Rockets 109-87
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HOUSTON (AP) — James Harden had 18 points, 16 assists and nine rebounds and the Houston Rockets beat the Dallas Mavericks 109-87 on Saturday night for their sixth straight win.
Eric Gordon added 18 points and Trevor Ariza had 17 to give Houston its first six-game winning streak since Oct. 28-Nov. 6, 2014.
Gordon's 3-pointer extended Houston's lead to 16 in the fourth quarter before Harrison Barnes hit a basket on the other end. Montrezl Harrell then made an off-balance layup as he was fouled and crashed to the court. He made the free throw to leave Houston up 92-75.
Wesley Matthews made a 3 with about six minutes left to get the Mavericks within 12. But Patrick Beverley, who scored all of his 15 points in the fourth quarter, hit 3s on the next two possessions to push Houston's lead to 100-82.
Matthews scored 26 points to lead the Mavericks and Barnes finished with 20.
A layup by Seth Curry cut Houston's lead to nine points midway through the third quarter. That's when Ariza got hot, making 3-pointers on three straight possessions to power a 9-4 run that pushed Houston's lead to 75-61.
Gordon and Sam Dekker added 3-pointers after that to leave the Rockets up 86-69 entering the fourth quarter.
Ariza made four 3s to move past Shane Battier for fourth on Houston's all-time 3-pointer list with 579.
Harden's 16 assists were his most since he had 17 in Houston's season opener.
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