DENVER – The Rockets could find scorers. They could stay within a long-shot chance. James Harden even found a way, with a final 3 when the benches were about to be cleared, to keep his streak of 30-point games going.
They never could come close to stopping the runaway train of the Nuggets' offense. In the latest collapse of the increasingly broken Rockets' defense, the Nuggets demolished their nine-game losing streak to the Rockets, leading by as much as 20 before finishing off a 136-122 win.
The Nuggets made 62.6 percent of their shots, easily the best-shooting night of the season against the Rockets this season, including 14 of 31 from deep, never seeming threatened again after blowing the game open in a spectacular first-half surge.