Rockets 115, Kings 111: James Harden poured in a career-high 51 points while tying his career best with eight 3-pointers as host Houston held off Sacramento.

Harden went 16-of-25 from the field and 11-of-13 from the foul line to become the first player in Rockets history with two 50-point games in a season as Houston won for the eighth time in 10 games and pulled even with Memphis for the No. 2 seed in the Western Conference. Trevor Ariza scored 22 points and Terrence Jones added 16 and a career-high seven blocks for the Rockets, who were without center Dwight Howard (knee).

DeMarcus Cousins collected 24 points, 21 rebounds, 10 assists and six blocks for the Kings, who have lost three straight following a four-game winning streak. Jason Thompson tallied 16 points and 10 rebounds and Omri Casspi scored 18 points as Sacramento put up 72 points in the paint.

Harden scored 17 of Houston's 39 third-quarter points as the Rockets went 14-of-22 from the field in the period to go up by 15 before settling for a 97-86 advantage entering the fourth. The Kings trimmed it to 104-102 on Casspi's basket with 5:50 to play, but Harden answered with eight straight points and Houston held on.

The Rockets opened a double-digit lead less than five minutes into the game and were up 35-25 after one quarter behind 16 points from Harden. Back-to-back 3-pointers from Ariza pushed the margin to 46-27, but the Kings surged back within one before Harden's bucket made it 58-55 at the break.

GAME NOTEBOOK: Houston improved to 23-2 when scoring at least 110 points while Sacramento dropped to 2-24 when allowing 110 or more. … The Rockets were 18-of-40 from 3-point range, adding to their NBA records for games with at least 10 triples (53) and at least 15 3-pointers (16) this season. … Houston has made 865 3-pointers this season and needs 27 to break the NBA mark set by the New York Knicks in 2012-13.