Rockets 116, Knicks 111 (OT)

Houston Rockets’ Dwight Howard, center, celebrates with James… Porzingis added 20 points with 13 boards, outplaying Howard (14 points, six rebounds) with the exception of that alley-oop jam to start OT.

Arron Afflalo led the way for the Knicks with 31 points and Kristaps Porzingis added 20 points and 13 rebounds.

The Rockets (7-10) have won all four games this season when Harden has scored 40 or more points.

“It was a lesson in perseverance, ” said interim coach J.B. Bickerstaff. “We can’t give him his strengths. It is a credit to our guys’ mental toughness and fortitude”.

James Harden has gotten better. “I thought that it was a few little rebounds and a few turnovers, some small things”. The Knicks, who had led since the first quarter, were in command at 91-77 with 8:05 remaining in the game. NY 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. Houston snapped a three-game slide with the 116-114 win over the Philadelphia 76ers on Friday despite committing 23 turnovers and yielding 16 3-pointers. “They really started to attack us in transition and we couldn’t stop that in the fourth quarter”.

The Knicks were able to end an 11-game losing streak to the Rockets with their victory last weekend, which was only the second in the last 21. But he had to hoist 28 shots – making only 10 – to score 26 points against the Knicks.

Porzingis has recorded eight double-doubles in the first 18 games of his rookie season.

The Rockets, however, went on a 12-0 run and then managed to tie the score with 32.2 seconds left when Marcus Thornton buried a three pointer.

Check out our keys to the game for the Knicks when they host the Rockets at Madison Square Garden tonight and look to get back to.500. It’s the most they’ve lost consecutively since dropping nine straight from March 19-April 3 last season…. The Rockets will try to take whatever positives they can find from that performance on the road when they visit the New York Knicks on Sunday.