Rockets 112, Pacers 86: James Harden shot 4-for-7 from 3-point range and scored 28 points as Houston ran away from visiting Indiana in the third quarter for its fourth straight win.

Dwight Howard outplayed Roy Hibbert on the inside for the second time this season and finished with 15 points and seven rebounds for the Rockets, who maintained their slight lead for third place in the Western Conference standings. Chandler Parsons added 11 points, five rebounds and six assists and Jeremy Lin led the reserves with 11 points for Houston, which improved to an NBA-best 22-6 in 2014.

David West had 15 points and 10 rebounds to lead the Pacers, who have lost three straight for the first time this season. Paul George added 13 points but finished well below his team-leading 22.3 average for the second straight game while Luis Scola scored 10 points off the bench for Indiana, which leads the Miami Heat by 1 1/2 games for the top spot in the Eastern Conference.

The game turned during a one-sided third quarter in which Indiana was outscored 38-16, the most points it has allowed in any quarter this season. George scored the first four points of the second half to trim the deficit to four, but Terrence Jones drilled a 3-pointer for Houston to spark a 9-0 run and the Pacers never got back within single digits as the lead ballooned to 88-59 at the end of the period.

The Rockets scored 12 of the final 14 points of the first quarter to open up a 27-16 lead. They stretched the advantage to as much as 16 on three occasions in the second quarter, but West scored eight points over the final 5:07 to help trim the deficit to 50-43 at the half.

GAME NOTEBOOK: The Rockets are the first team to beat the Heat and Pacers in the same week this season. … The Rockets have only lost one home game against an Eastern Conference team since November 2012. … Houston and the Los Angeles Clippers are the only NBA teams that haven’t lost three straight games this season.