The Rockets (15 - 14) defeated the Hornets (15 - 12) 102 - 95 at Toyota Center on Monday. After a very tight first half, the Rockets managed to jump out to a nine - point lead heading into the fourth quarter. But the Hornets responded to even the score, though they were unable to contain James Harden. After scoring just 18 points in Saturday's win, Harden turned in a vintage performance with 36 points (9 - 16 FG, 2 - 7 3Pt, 16 - 19 FT) to go along with seven assists and five rebounds. It was the third straight win for the Rockets, who are over the .500 mark on the season for the first time since Nov. 7. Harden did n't get much help from the rest of the Rockets' starters, but he did get some support from the bench. Terrence Jones posted 17 points on 7 - of - 11 shooting from the field and Marcus Thornton put up 13 with a pair of 3 - pointers. Dwight Howard was relatively quiet after recording back - to - back double - doubles. Houston will get a chance to extend its win streak to four games Wednesday against the Magic. The Hornets - - for the most part - - played a pretty tight defensive game, but had no one to slow down Harden, which was the difference in the end. They also experienced one of their worst offensive games of the season, shooting just under 35 percent from the field while hitting just 12 - of - 41 attempts from beyond the arc. Charlotte tried to spread the ball around with seven players taking eight or more shot attempts, but it did n't translate into winning basketball. The Hornets will look to end their mini two - game skid Wednesday against the Celtics at home.
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 "PlayerStat(G,'Terrence Jones') has 11 Assists ,has 7 Blocks ,has 17 3-pointers attempted ."
 "PlayerStat(G,'Marcus Thornton') has 13 Assists ."]