Houston Vs. Los Angeles Recap & Highlights: Rockets Ruin Griffin’s Return 100-98 Behind Harden’s Heroics [VIDEO]

LOS ANGELES – James Harden scored 34 points and the Houston Rockets beat the Los Angeles Clippers 100-98 to spoil the return of Blake Griffin to the Clippers lineup.

“Two really good teams we’re on the floor today and two really good teams are going to come down to the last few plays and obviously we made them,” said Harden about the game.

Trevor Ariza had 19 points and 9 rebounds and Terrance Jones added 16 points and 12 rebounds as the Rockets split the season series with Los Angeles and moved within two games of the idle Memphis Grizzlies for first place in the Southwest Division.

“It was a big win for us,” added Ariza. “We’re coming off of two losses in a row. This was a win that we needed, especially on the road. Going into the home stretch, these are the types of games we have to win.”

Chris Paul had 23 points, but missed a jump shot as time expired that would have sent the game to overtime. Matt Barnes had 19 points; J.J. Redick added 15 and DeAndre Jordan grabbed 20 rebounds for the Clippers in a losing effort.

“We still had opportunities to win the game, but I didn’t get a good shot off that last possession,” said Paul about the final play. “I probably should have shot on the first step back, instead I forced it and it didn’t go through.”

The last time the Clippers played the Rockets it was without superstar Blake Griffin. Los Angeles lost that game 110-105, but Griffin returned on Sunday afternoon for the encore and posted a pretty decent line despite missing the past month with a staph infection in his right elbow. Griffin scored 11 points, grabbed 11 rebounds and dished out 8 assists in his return, but still was disappointed in his effort.

“I didn’t think I played well,” said Griffin after the game. I" was out of rhythm. I had way too many turnovers, obviously. I didn’t put us in a position to win. I’ve got to be better. We did some unfortunate things down the stretch.”

Griffin was called for an offensive foul with 12 seconds remaining after he barreled into Rockets forward Trevor Ariza. Instant replay showed that Ariza was moving at the time of the contact, and the call could have easily gone the other way. The Clippers were trailing 99-98 at the time and Griffin would have gone to the line for two free throws that could have tied or given LA the lead.

“If I speak on that I’ll get fined,” added Griffin when asked about the controversial call.

Nate Robinson sparked the Clippers late rally off the bench with 7 points.

“Nate’s energy was great,” said Clippers head coach Doc Rivers about his team’s newest addition. “That’s what we need from him, he didn’t score well, but he played with great energy. That’s what we need from him.”

Houston center, Dwight Howard, who has been out since Jan. 23^rd with a right knee injury was seen shooting before the game and announced he would return to the lineup in the next two weeks.

Game Notes:
It was Muppets day at Staples Center as Kermit the Frog did the pre-game introductions and sat courtside for the game. Various Muppets including, Animal, Miss Piggy, Statler and Waldorf all were shown on the jumbotron throughout the game.