HOUSTON — Bolstered by their bench, the Houston Rockets held the Chicago Bulls scoreless during the opening four-plus minutes of the fourth quarter and claimed a 101-90 win on Wednesday night at the Toyota Center.
Houston (34-15) opened the fourth quarter with a 13-0 run before Bulls guard Jimmy Butler sank two free throws with 7:52 left. The Rockets’ surge bumped their lead to 88-70 — a deficit too large for Chicago (30-20) to overcome, even after a late push into single digits.
Butler finished with a game-high 27 points and three Bulls posted double figures in rebounds: forwards Pau Gasol (16 points, 12 rebounds) and Taj Gibson (12 points, 10 rebounds) and center Joakim Noah (19 rebounds). Guard Derrick Rose added 23 points.
While outrebounded by 13, the Rockets turned strong efforts from forwards Donatas Motiejunas (15 points, 10 rebounds) and Josh Smith (nine points, 13 rebounds) into support performances for guard James Harden, who matched Butler for scoring honors with 27 points.
Momentum largely swung with the performances of the All-Star two-guards. With the Rockets having recently secured a four-point lead, Harden suddenly erupted for 13 consecutive points, mostly with Butler laboring in vain to provide quality defense.
Harden began his tear with a basket in transition before attacking Butler off the dribble. His first such basket came on a step-back 3-pointer that left Butler scrambling and built the Rockets lead to 44-37.
Harden followed with two driving layups and another splendid step-back jumper. He closed his run with two free throws at the 2:08 mark of the second quarter that upped the advantage to 52-43, equal to the nine-point lead the Rockets carried into the intermission.
Without missing any of his five shots from the field, Harden poured in 15 points in the second quarter.
Houston extended its lead to 16 points in the third quarter before Butler responded, burying a series of jumpers en route to an 11-point period.
Butler sank a 3 with 1:47 left to cut the deficit to 73-65 and Chicago trailed by just five entering the fourth after the Rockets missed all 10 of their 3-point shots in the third quarter.
NOTES: Rockets C Dwight Howard underwent a bone marrow aspirate injection on his right knee Wednesday morning and will be re-evaluated in four weeks after rehab. The procedure was designed to offset swelling that has cost Howard 12 games this season. Howard missed his 17th game overall on Wednesday night. … Without Howard, the Rockets have turned to F/C Donatas Motiejunas and F Terrence Jones to fill the rebounding void. Howard owns a career rebounding rate of 20.7 percent, well above Motiejunas (12.1 percent) and Jones (14.0 percent). … Bulls F Mike Dunleavy missed his 17th consecutive game with a right ankle sprain. Chicago is 12-3 with its primary starting lineup of Dunleavy, Derrick Rose, Jimmy Butler, Joakim Noah and Pau Gasol. … Rockets G James Harden was named Western Conference Player of the Month for a second consecutive time after averaging 25.8 points, 4.7 rebounds, 6.7 assists and 2.2 steals in 17 games.