Heading into the third quarter, it looked like the New Orleans Pelicans (14-14) were going to come away with a huge road win against the Houston Rockets (21-4). However, a big fourth quarter from James Harden gave the Rockets a 130-123 victory on Monday night.
After an early back and forth, the Pelicans pulled out in front thanks to some solid shooting from beyond the arc by E’Twaun Moore. They were able to get out to as much as an 11-point lead with three minutes left in the first quarter before former Pelican Eric Gordon put up eight points for the Rockets to cut the deficit to three points.
The Rockets carried the momentum from the end of the first well into the second quarter and took a 50-44 lead early. The Pelicans got the lead back with 7:32 left thanks to Moore. However, the Rockets took a 78-76 lead into the break thanks to James Harden’s layup with 31 seconds left on the clock.
New Orleans got back out in front in the third quarter with a great quarter from Jrue Holiday and Rajon Rondo and took a 103-96 lead into the final quarter. However, Harden helped give the Rockets the win thanks to 12 of his 26 points coming in the final three minutes of the ballgame.
The Pelicans will return to the Smoothie King Center on Wednesday to take on the Milwaukee Bucks (15-10) with tipoff set for 7 pm.
-Clint Domingue