NBA: Rockets down Clippers for 14th straight win

Representation picThe NBAleading Houston Rockets capped a perfect February with a 10592 victory over the Los Angeles Clippers on Wednesday to stretch their winning streak to 14 games The Rockets led by 25 points from James Harden finished February 120 and with their second 14game win streak of the season became just the sixth team in league history to post multiple streaks of at least 14 wins in the same campaign Extremely important Harden said of the victory over the Clippers potential early playoff opponents who had beaten the Rockets twice this seasonThe victory kept the Rockets atop the Western Conference leading the reigning NBA champion Golden State Warriors who beat the Wizards 109101 in Washington The Rockets led by as many as 27 points Harden delivered the games signature moment in the opening quarter when he wrongfooted Wesley Johnson with a quick crossover dribble Johnson falling backwards to the court and receiving a long stare from Harden before the Rockets star drained a threepointer over him Harden wasnt on the floor for the Rockets January 15 loss to the Clippers when oncourt clashes spilled over and a couple of Houston players tried to confront the Clippers in their locker room This time there was no such drama as the Rockets seized control early taking a 3412 lead after one quarterThe Clippers trailed just 8372 going into the final period but Houston pulled away inexorably in the fourth We just kept our composure and finished the game off the right way Harden said In Washington Warriors star and DCarea native Kevin Durant celebrated his homecoming by scoring 32 points Stephen Curry added 25 points and the Warriors limited Washington guard Bradley Beal to eight to notch their seventh win in eight gamesEastern Conference leaders Toronto pulled away late to beat the lowly Magic 117104 in Orlando The Raptors capped a 92 February clamping down in the fourth quarter to force 10 misses by the Magic in their first 12 shots of the final period Six players scored in double figures for the Raptors with DeMar DeRozan leading the way with a gamehigh 21 points Kyle Lowry added 17 with 11 assists and seven reboundsReserve center Jakob Poeltl finished with 13 points and eight rebounds and Pascal Siakam added 14 points for Toronto who led by one point going into the fourth quarter The Boston Celtics battling to regain the Eastern Conference lead won their fourth straight since the AllStar break in impressive fashion beating the Charlotte Hornets 134106 Kyrie Irving scored 34 points handed out five assists and pulled down four rebounds for the Celtics who halted the Hornets fivegame winning streakIn Dallas Oklahoma City star Russell Westbrook scored 30 points as the Thunder spoiled a milestone night for Mavericks veteran Dirk Nowitzki with a 111110 overtime triumph Westbrook converted the goahead threepoint play in the final minute of overtime driving for a layup and drawing a foul then making the freethrow to cap the scoring with 38 seconds left Germanys Nowitzki sixth on the NBAs alltime scoring list reached 31000 points with a trademark fadeaway jump shot in the second quarter The 39yearold in his 20th NBA season finished with 12 pointsCatch up on all the latest sports news and updates hereDownload the new midday Android and iOS apps to get updates on all the latest and trending stories on the go