NEW YORK (AP) – James Harden inched past Wilt Chamberlain and didn’t stop his latest one-man show until he’d tied Kobe Bryant.
On another spectacular night for the NBA’s most sensational scorer, Harden not only notched his career high with 61 points, but tied Bryant’s record for a visiting player at the current Madison Square Garden.
“In the Garden, I’ll take it,” Harden said.
The Rockets sure needed it.
Harden made the clinching layup with 3.8 seconds remaining after the Knicks turned it over, and the Rockets edged the New York Knicks, 114-110, on Wednesday night.
With his final basket, Harden capped his fifth 50-point game this season and a wild stretch of back-and-forth basketball across the final minutes.
“The way we played in the last six minutes, maybe four minutes, we set basketball back at least 10 years,” Rockets coach Mike D’Antoni said. “It was mind-boggling the things we just did. We got the win.”
Eric Gordon made the go-ahead 3-pointer with 9.8 seconds left when Houston couldn’t get the ball to Harden, the NBA’s leading scorer who earlier had passed Chamberlain into fourth place in NBA history with his 21st consecutive 30-point game.
A day after saying he hadn’t yet experienced his Madison Square Garden moment, Harden finished 17 of 38 from the floor. He was only 5 of 20 on 3-pointers but was 22 of 25 from the line and grabbed 15 rebounds in front of a crowd that cheered some of his long jumpers but then booed after he drew foul after foul.
Carmelo Anthony holds the overall record at the current MSG with 62 points.
OLADIPO SUFFERS INJURY
In Indianapolis, a promising season for the Indiana Pacers was instantly transformed when Victor Oladipo’s leg buckled and he fell to the floor in pain.
Indiana showed earlier this season it can win without the All-Star guard, at least in the short term. Now, the third-best team in the Eastern Conference may have to push ahead without him for a much longer stretch.
Oladipo was carried off the court on a stretcher during the second quarter of the Pacers’ 110-106 victory over the Toronto Raptors on Wednesday night with a serious right knee injury. He is scheduled for an MRI on Thursday.
“It is a serious injury and we’ll know more after the MRI,” coach Nate McMillan said. “We’re not going to speculate. It’s a tough situation. That kid has a beautiful spirit about him. He has always been one to try and to lift us up. We’ve got to lift him now.”
CELTICS TRIUMPH
In Boston, the Boston Celtics had a little tuneup before their big mid-winter test.
Terry Rozier scored 22 of his 26 points in the first half and the Celtics coasted to their fifth straight victory with a 123-103 win over the struggling Cleveland Cavaliers on Wednesday night.
