LOS ANGELES — Guard James Harden scored 23 points, and center Dwight Howard added 20 points and 21 rebounds, rallying the Houston Rockets to a stunning 119-107 victory over the Los Angeles Clippers on Thursday night and tying the Western Conference semifinal series at three games apiece.
Game 7 is Sunday at the Toyota Center in Houston. The winner advances to the Western Conference finals against either the Golden State Warriors or the Memphis Grizzlies.
The Clippers led 100-88 with less than eight minutes remaining before a 24-2 run saved Houston’s season.
Forwards Corey Brewer and Josh Smith contributed 19 points apiece for the Rockets, who had six players score in double figures. Forward Terrence Jones finished with 16 points.
Guard Chris Paul had 31 points, 11 assists and seven rebounds for the Clippers, who had a 3-1 advantage in the series before dropping the past two contests. Forward Blake Griffin finished with 28 points and eight rebounds.
Los Angeles wilted down the stretch. A three-point play by backup point guard Austin Rivers gave the Clippers a 12-point advantage with 7:38 remaining in the game, but the Rockets surge to a 112-102 lead after a free throw by forward Josh Smith with 1:16 left.
As they had in Games 3 and 4, both losses, the Rockets endured a rough time in the third quarter, but this time they survived it. The Clippers bolted from a 64-62 halftime lead with a 13-4 surge to open the third for a 77-66 cushion after a three-point play by Paul.
Things got a bit testy less than two minutes later, when Harden got docked with a technical foul after getting tangled up with forward Matt Barnes with 5:27 remaining in the quarter. That added more fuel to the Clippers’ tank as they went on an 8-0 run for an 87-68 advantage after two foul shots by Paul.
Houston put together an 11-2 stretch to cut the gap to 89-79 after a 3-point basket by Jones, but a trey by guard Jamal Crawford with 27.3 seconds remaining gave Los Angeles a 92-79 lead heading into the final period.
The Rockets outscored the Clippers 40-15 in the fourth.
NOTES: Houston’s bench outscored Los Angeles’ 37-16. The Rockets also enjoyed a 60-41 rebounding edge. … Rockets coach Kevin McHale said he would like to see changes in the intentional foul rule. “I just think you have to let people play a little bit,” said McHale, who has had his players purposely foul Clippers C DeAndre Jordan in each game of the series. “I wouldn’t mind seeing them change it where you can’t (intentionally) foul in the first 14 seconds of the shot clock, you can’t foul in the first 10 seconds, something so you can play and attack. Something to allow some flow in the game because it gets hard to watch that sometimes. Games take five hours.”