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HOUSTON -- James Harden limped out of the Houston Rockets' locker room on Wednesday night, a sprained right ankle the reason for his Fred Sanford-like walk. It was a typical night for the NBA's leading scorer: Get knocked down, find your shot, help others and win. Harden finished with 21 points but missed his first six shots of the game to do it, in the Rockets' 110-105 victory over the Los Angeles Clippers. "Just missing my shots [and] I had a couple of catch-and-shoot opportunities that I missed, and I'm not really worried about it," Harden said. "I'm not just a scorer, I'm a playmaker as well so having 10 assists out there, getting my guys involved, doing whatever it takes to win basketball games, that's what's important."  It was the first time this season the Rockets had beaten the Clippers in three meetings and forward Donatas Motiejunas said psychologically it was important to finally beat them considering the two teams would meet if the playoffs started today. Coach Kevin McHale changed the practice habits. Instead of focusing on what the Rockets do, he wanted his team to worry about the Clippers and the matchup problems they present. The biggest matchup problem was on Harden. Clippers coach Doc Rivers sends two and three defenders at Harden, holding his average to only 12.5 points per game in the first two meetings between the teams this season. Harden was shooting 33.3 percent from the floor and was 0-for-11 from 3-point range in two games against the Clippers. Wednesday night, Harden was covered by J.J. Redick and Matt Barnes to start the game as the Clippers tried to get Harden to become a distributor rather than a man who averages 27.3 points per game. It worked to the Rockets' benefit, allowing Terrence Jones to produce a 14-points, eight-rebound, five-block game. Trevor Ariza scored 17 points and Corey Brewer came off the bench to score 20 points and snag six rebounds in 26 minutes. There was a beautiful stretch when Harden was on the bench in the fourth quarter and the Rockets' second unit took over the game, protecting the rim, running the floor and making the fans at the Toyota Center go crazy. "It shows a sign of growth right there," Harden said. "We got steals. We got stops. We pushed, we attacked," McHale said. When Harden returned with 6:03 remaining in the game, the MVP chants rang out and his first shot was a missed 3-pointer, then he made a mid-range jumper. The playmaker in Harden kept coming out. On a fast break, he bounced a pass between Chris Paul's legs on a Brewer layup and foul that pushed the Rockets to a 105-93 edge. With about four minutes left, Harden stepped on Paul's foot while driving to the basket, but told McHale he was OK because he wanted to continue. He limped around trying to walk off the pain he's experienced most of the season from getting knocked around by opponents. Harden later was popped in the face by Paul, and the two exchanged words. Paul said after the game he doesn't remember what was said. It doesn't matter because Harden's all-around play said it all. "Doc Rivers does a great job of making [Harden] a facilitator and packing the paint in and making it hard for him to get easy buckets," Rockets forward Josh Smith said. "What [Harden] did today was, he let the game come to him and he found his teammates early, and Brewer and a lot of other players made them pay, and that kinda opened the lane up for him to be able to get his game off."
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