NBA roundup: James Harden scores 51 in Rockets’ win

James Harden strengthened his case for the MVP award with a career-high 51 points, and the Houston Rockets held on for a 115-111 victory over the visiting Sacramento Kings on Wednesday night.

Harden, the NBA’s second-leading scorer, became the first Rockets player to have two 50-point games in a season.

DeMarcus Cousins led the Kings with his second career triple-double with 24 points, 21 rebounds and 10 assists after missing Monday’s game to rest. He also had six blocks.

Dallas 135, at Oklahoma City 131: Monta Ellis scored 26 points, and the Mavericks withstood the 10th triple-double of the season from Russell Westbrook (31 points, 11 rebounds and 11 assists). Westbrook made only 10 of 32 shots. Anthony Morrow scored 32 points and Enes Kanter added a career-high 30 points and 16 rebounds for the Thunder. According to STATS, it was the first time a team had three players score at least 30 points in a game since Westbrook, Kevin Durant and James Harden did it for Oklahoma City on March 7, 2012.

San Antonio 103, at Orlando 91: Aron Baynes had 18 points and the Spurs clinched a playoff berth for the 18th consecutive season. San Antonio has won five in a row and is 15-3 since Feb. 27. “It’s not that we are switching it on now,” the Spurs’ Manu Ginobili said. “We tried to get it together early, but we just couldn’t, whether it was from injuries or just poor play.”

at Charlotte 102, Detroit 78: Marvin Williams scored 18 points and the Hornets won for only the third time in 10 games to keep pace in the Eastern Conference playoff race.

at Washington 106, Philadelphia 93: Marcin Gortat scored 23 points and grabbed 14 rebounds, Bradley Beal added 20 points, and the playoff-bound Wizards won for the second time in seven games.

at Boston 100, Indiana 87: Kelly Olynyk scored 19 points after nearly missing the game with an eye injury sustained hours before tipoff and Evan Turner had a triple-double (13 points, 12 assists, 11 rebounds) for the Celtics.

Brooklyn 100, at New York 98: Brook Lopez’s follow shot with two seconds left gave the Nets their fifth victory in a row and a share of seventh place in the East.

at Milwaukee 95, Chicago 91: Michael Carter-Williams had 21 points and 10 rebounds as the Bucks ended a nine-game home losing streak against the Bulls.

Toronto 113, at Minnesota 99: Six players scored at least 13 points for the Raptors, who shot 55.3% from the field.

at Utah 98, Denver 84: Rudy Gobert scored a career-high 20 points and had 12 rebounds for the Jazz.