Houston Rockets prevailed in their recent encounter with the Western Conference red-hot team Portland Trail Blazers with a 119-105 come-from -behind win at the Moda Center on Thursday evening.

James Harden led the Rockets with a game-high 46 points to stage a second half rally to overcame a 21-point, third period deficit. Harden, who dished out eight assists and grabbed 5 rebounds with two steals, went 16 for 26 from the field and hit 4-of-9 from the three-point area in 46.25 minutes of playing time.

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The league's second leading scorer dropped 19 points in the final twelve minutes of the match alone and converted 10-of-13 free shots from the foul line during the entire 48 minutes of the game.

"We were kind of letting them do what they wanted," Harden, who is the current NBA's eighth-best in assists, said. "So the second half we dictated what we wanted, got to our spots. Defensively we were aggressive and the game changed for us."

It was the Rockets' 29^th victory in 58 games played this season, which put the two-time NBA champion squad into the eight spot of the Western Conference edging the Utah Jazz (28-29), who lost their recent game to the San Antonio Spurs, with a half game advantage.

Dwight Howard scored 19 points while going 8 for 10 from the field, the NBA's third-best rebounder (12.0 rpg) grabbed 13 boards to go along with two steals and three block shots.

"It was an awesome game. To be down in the position we were in, having been down against this team the last two times we've played them, and not give in speaks volumes for this team," Houston's interim head coach Bickerstaff said. "It was a hell of a win."

Damian Lillard led the Trail Blazers, who snapped their six-game winning streak, with 23 points with 6-20 from the field and connected only three treys out of the ten attempts he fired from beyond the arc line.

CJ McCollum scored 20 points while Al-Farouq Aminu and Gerald Henderson had 13 points each for Portland.

TagsNBA, houston rockets, Portland Trail Blazers