James Harden goes 0-for-8 from 3-point land in ugly win vs. Detroit

HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) -- On a rare night where points were hard to come by and James Harden went cold from beyond the arc, the Rockets pulled out their second straight four-point victory.

The likely NBA MVP scored 21 points on 4-for-20 shooting, hustling Houston to a 100-96 overtime win against Detroit on Thursday night.

The Rockets were without Chris Paul, who sat out to relieve a hamstring strain.

The usually hot-handed Rockets shot 35 percent from the field and made only 12 three-pointers on 51 attempts from downtown.

Eric Gordon, who started in place of Paul, scored 22 points. Clint Capela added 10 points and grabbed 14 rebounds. P.J. Tucker, who came up big on the defensive end, scored 10 points, including a key put-back basket to ice the game in the final minute of overtime.

The margin of victory Thursday matched that of Houston's big road victory in Portland on Tuesday. The win also matches a franchise-high 58 victories in a season, tied with the NBA Finals-winning 1993-1994 Rockets.

Houston is 4.5 games up on Golden State for the best record in the NBA and the No. 1 seed in the Western Conference with 10 games left. The Rockets are winners of 24 of their last 25 games.

The Rockets have another Saturday marquee matchup as they host potential playoff opponent the New Orleans Pelicans on Saturday.