On a landmark night for James Harden, the Brooklyn Nets continued their NBA winning streak with a resounding 124-108 victory over the Los Angeles Clippers.

The changed Nets were short without seven regular players, notably NBA leading scorer Kevin Durant, but it didn’t matter because Harden was backed by an excellent support team that included Boomer Patty Mills.

Harden tied for a season-high with 39 points and 15 assists of the season as the Nets improved their NBA’s best road mark to 13-3 with a sweep in Los Angeles.

They beat LeBron James and the Lakers 122-115 on Christmas in their first game after three consecutive postponements due to the pandemic.

Harden was very much on his own and well backed as four Nets hit double figures, including Mills who had 18 points and made six three-pointers. Nick Claxton tied his career with 18 points.

Harden joined some exclusive companies while engineering the win. His 10th assist was the 6000th in his career, making him the 10th player in NBA history with 20,000 points, 5,000 rebounds, and 6,000 assists.

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Others on the list include the late Kobe Bryant, James, Chris Paul, Oscar Robertson and current Clippers CEO Jerry West.

Harden just missed a hat-trick with eight assists.

The net escaped in the second quarter.

That’s when they scored 33 points while keeping the Clippers at 22.

DeAndre’ Bembry had six points, including a technical error that caused him to be suspended over the edge, and Mills’ two-three-pointers helped the Nets lead 71-55 in the first half, his biggest first-half lead on the road this season.

The Nets scored 30 points in third place when they boosted their lead to 22 points. They completely dominated the clippers in the paint with a 74-38 edge.

From the start, the Clippers scored five three-pointers in his dash to an eight-point lead to open the game before Blake Griffin came off the bench to haunt his old team.

Griffin scored two consecutive goals in a dunk pass and another equalized and then gave the net its first lead of the game as part of an 11-0 run.

Harden scored the next in Griffin’s heist, and later assisted Harden in a one-handed jam attempt by Griffin which recalled his old days at Lob City with the Clippers.

Griffin finished with 12 points and nine rebounds.

In Arizona, Ja Morant scored 33 points, including a corner kick 0.5 seconds before play that gave the Memphis Grizzlies a 114-113 victory over the Phoenix Suns.

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Morant’s basket came after Devin Booker’s three pointers – with five seconds of play – gave the Suns their first lead since the start of the game.

After a timeout, Morant drove the left side of the lane and entered it.

Terry Roser scored 27 points to lead the Charlotte Hornets to a big win over the Houston Rockets 123-99, with backcourt teammate Lamelo Paul scoring four three-pointers one night when he scored 16 points and provided seven assists.

Jaylene Noel scored 29 points to lead the Minnesota Timberwolves to a 108-103 victory over the Boston Celtics, while Chicago won its fourth game in a row by defeating Atlanta 130-118.

Dallas beat Portland 132-117 while visiting Utah beat San Antonio 110-104 for their fourth straight win.

AFP/Reuters