The Houston Rockets managed to come out on top of the Philadelphia 76ers 132-123 in a back-and-forth, double-overtime showdown at the Toyota Center behind Jalen Green’s 27 points and seven assists.
Despite missing all seven of his three-point attempts, the 20-year-old hit on nine of his 13 shots from inside the arc and nine of his 10 free throws to propel the Rockets to their seventh win of the season.
Also for Houston, Kevin Porter Jr. had 24 points, six rebounds and three assists and hit on four of his eight three-point attempts whilst rookie Tari Eason added 18 points, six rebounds and three steals on 7-of-11 shooting in 21 minutes off the bench.
Jabari Smith Jr. finished with 16 points and 11 rebounds whilst Eric Gordon and K.J. Martin both scored 14.
The first half belonged to the 76ers with the visitors leaping out to an early, double-digit lead which they lost early in the second quarter.
The Rockets held onto a one-point, halftime lead.
As illustrated by the game’s 11 ties and 15 lead changes, the second half was a blow-for-blow affair with Houston’s lead ballooning out to nine early in the fourth quarter.
The 76ers fought back, however, and survived what would have been a walk-off game-winner courtesy of Jalen Green as the final buzzer sounded to force overtime.
Neither team gained any real ascendency in the first overtime period.
With under three seconds remaining and down one, Porter Jr. drew a sixth foul on Joel Embiid and split the free throws before Harden missed on his own game-winning three-ball at the buzzer.
Gordon, Porter Jr., and Smith Jr. all hit second-overtime threes to put Houston on top before a Martin dunk proved the exclamation point.
Houston dominated the boards – 70 to 48 – and won the paint battle – 52 to 40 – but Philadelphia were buoyed by their strong perimeter shot-making – 17-of-36 from three versus Houston’s 14-of-39.
Embiid led Philadelphia with 39 points and seven rebounds whilst Harden added 21 points and seven assists on just 4-of-19 shooting in his first game back from a 14-game layoff.
Tobias Harris finished with 27 points on 7-of-8 from three whilst De’Anthony Melton had nine points, eight rebounds, six assists and two steals.
Philadelphia will host the Lakers on Saturday whilst Houston will be in San Antonio on Friday.
