James Harden scored 16 of his 32 points in the fourth quarter to lift the Houston Rockets to a 115-109 victory over the Los Angeles Clippers on Wednesday night that evened their Western Conference semifinal at one game apiece.
Dwight Howard had 24 points and 16 rebounds for the Rockets and Trevor Ariza added 15 points and 13 rebounds for Houston, which made 42 of its 64 free throws. Both were franchise playoff records.
Blake Griffin led Los Angeles with 34 points but had just eight after halftime as Houston keyed on him with All-Star point guard Chris Paul out with a hamstring injury.