WATCH: James Harden Drops 31 Points on the Lakers in Three Quarters

In a mere 27 minutes of action Sunday night, James Harden scored a game-high 31 points against the hapless Los Angeles Lakers, leading the visiting Houston Rockets to an easy 112-95 win.

Houston got back on the winning track, after having its season-high five-game winning streak snapped Friday by the Cleveland Cavaliers.

Seven Rockets players scored in double-figures.

Per the AP:

“We wanted to bounce back from that loss in the last game,” Harden said. “We allowed them to score too easy in the first half, but in the third quarter we turned it up. We knew we had to lock in on the defensive end, because we knew we could basically get anything we wanted on the offensive end if we got stops.”

 

The Rockets (22-20) are 18-13 under interim coach J.B. Bickerstaff, who took over after Kevin McHale was fired on Nov. 18. […] “I think the attitude and the camaraderie, the togetherness and the fight has been much better overall,” Bickerstaff said. “Time and time again there have been tough situations where we’ve been down in games, but we’ve stuck together and found a way to crawl back and win.”

 

Dwight Howard had 14 points and 15 rebounds to earn his ninth straight double-double, his longest such streak since a 14-game run three seasons ago. He is averaging 18.9 points and 13.4 boards during this stretch. […] Lou Williams led Los Angeles with 20 points. Kobe Bryant, trying to play through a sore right Achilles, had just five points in 24 minutes and tied a season high with nine assists before sitting out the fourth quarter.