The recent winning streak by the Houston Rockets ended at six games as the New York Knicks won at home Monday night, 125-123 (box score).
The Knicks (19-42) overcame a talent gap against Houston (39-21) by crushing the smaller Rockets with a 65-34 rebounding edge.
The Rockets trailed by as many as 19 points late in the third quarter before Russell Westbrook and James Harden led them back. However, they weren’t able to get over the hump, with Harden missing a layup in the final minute that would have put the Rockets up by a point.
Westbrook then missed a mid-range shot at the buzzer that would have sent the game to overtime. Instead, the Knicks celebrated just their 10th win in 30 games this season at Madison Square Garden.
Westbrook tallied 24 points and nine rebounds, but his 9-of-19 shooting night (47.4%) snapped a career-long streak of seven consecutive games shooting better than 52% from the field.
After turning his ankle in the game’s opening moments, Westbrook stayed in but had a game-high six turnovers in his 37 minutes.
Harden led the Rockets with 35 points and eight assists, but he shot only 8-of-22 overall (36.4%) and 3-of-13 on 3-pointers (23.1%). During postgame interviews, both former MVPs and 2020 All-Stars cited effort issues early in the game as the biggest reason for the unexpected loss.
Houston trailed by 21 points midway through the second quarter. For the game, Harden tied his season low with just two rebounds in 39 minutes.
Starting forwards Danuel House Jr. and Robert Covington each scored 20 points and combined for 10 made 3-pointers in 22 attempts (45.5%), which kept Houston within striking distance. Veteran center P.J. Tucker didn’t score and had just five rebounds in 34 minutes, only two nights after posting nine points and 13 rebounds in a key win at Boston.
The Knicks were led by 27 points on 55.6% shooting from rookie guard RJ Barrett, but they also had four players (Bobby Portis, Mitchell Robinson, Frank Ntilikina, and Wayne Ellington) in double figures off the bench. New York’s reserves outscored Houston’s by a 59-24 margin.
Knicks bigs Julius Randle, Taj Gibson, and Mitchell Robinson pummeled the smaller Rockets with a combined 39 rebounds in 78 minutes.
Houston returns to action Thursday with a critical home game versus the Los Angeles Clippers (41-19), who they now trail by two games for the No. 2 spot in the Western Conference standings. With a national TNT telecast, tipoff is scheduled for 7:00 p.m. from Toyota Center.
