James Harden had 25 points and 13 assists as the Houston Rockets built a big early lead and held off a late rally to get a 128-104 NBA win over the Orlando Magic.
The Rockets had led by as many as 23 before the Magic began chipping away at the lead on Tuesday (Wednesday AEDT).
Serge Ibaka made a turnaround jump shot midway through the fourth quarter to cut Houston's lead to nine points.
Harden grabbed a bad pass from Evan Fournier not long after that and dished to Eric Gordon, who finished with a three-pointer.
Trevor Ariza added a three-pointer for Houston to extend the lead to 112-97 with about four minutes remaining to put the game away.
In Charlotte, Kemba Walker, Nicolas Batum and Marco Belinelli each had 17 points as the hosting Hornets snapped a seven-game losing streak with a 111-107 victory over the Brooklyn Nets.
Charlotte (24-28) had not won since a January 21 triumph over Brooklyn who have lost 10 straight games.
Meanwhile, CJ McCollum scored 32 points with 0.9 seconds left to give the Portland Trail Blazers a 114-113 win over the Dallas Mavericks.
McCollum's shot capped a final minute in which the two teams traded leads six times and Dirk Nowitzki hit two three-pointers. McCollum scored Portland's last seven points.
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