PHILADELPHIA — James Harden scored 35 points and Trevor Ariza added 24 as the Houston Rockets improved to 4-0 with a 104-93 victory over the Philadelphia 76ers on Monday night.
Houston’s Isaiah Canaan, starting for injured guard Patrick Beverley, added 13 points. Center Dwight Howard contributed 11 points, 14 rebounds and four blocked shots for the Rockets, which last opened a season with four consecutive victories in 1996-97, en route to a 6-0 start.
Guard Tony Wroten notched 20 points to pace the Sixers, who are 0-4 for the first time since 2010-11. Forward Brandon Davies added 13 points, and center Nerlens Noel had 10 points, six steals and five assists but managed just a single rebound.
Canaan nailed 3-pointers on consecutive possessions during a 12-2 flurry late in the game, when Houston extended a 90-84 lead to 102-86. Harden, a veteran guard, and Ariza, a guard/forward, also had 3-pointers in that stretch.
Harden scored 13 points in the third quarter, four in a 12-0 run early in the period that gave the Rockets the lead for good at 67-56. He finished 7-for-18 from the field and 17-for-18 from the free-throw line.
Ariza scored 14 points and made all four of his 3-point attempts in the first quarter, a period that saw the Rockets shoot 7-for-10 from the arc en route to a 32-19 lead.
The Sixers chipped away in the second quarter, going 5-for-7 on 3-pointers to creep ahead on three occasions, the last time at 54-53 with 13.2 seconds left in the half after rookie guard/forward K.J. McDaniels nailed his second trey in as many possessions.
Harden’s acrobatic layup with one second left in the half put the Rockets back in front, 55-54.
After Philadelphia led 56-55 early in the third quarter, Houston forced five consecutive turnovers in its 12-0 run, a surge that featured four points by Harden and four by Canaan.
Wroten scored nine in the period for the Sixers, who were within 79-74 heading into the fourth quarter.
NOTES: Houston G Patrick Beverley missed the game due to a strained left hamstring. … Philadelphia G Michael Carter-Williams, who has yet to play this season after undergoing shoulder surgery in May, will scrimmage for the first time Thursday. … Philadelphia coach Brett Brown said the goal for rookie C/F Nerlens Noel, 2-for-6 at the foul line in the team’s first three games, is to make 60 percent of his free throws this season. “I think it’s still attainable,” Brown said. “The game is fast to him right now. He’s just trying to take it all in. His whole game has to be borne out of energy. That’s what he is now. And when he’s not that, he hurts us, and he has to sit.”