HOUSTON -- With an exasperated smile and an exaggerated head nod, Houston forward Trevor Ariza emphasized a point intended for his teammates, one about how much easier things could be for the Rockets on the offensive end if only they displayed consistent commitment defensively.

James Harden and Ariza co-engineered a third-quarter offensive surge, one derived largely from aggressive half-court defense, as the Rockets erased a 22-point, first-quarter deficit in their 117-102 victory over the New York Knicks on Saturday night at Toyota Center.

Harden tallied 14 of his game-high 37 points in the third period, taking the baton from Ariza to steer Houston (15-4) to a 37-13 advantage in the frame. Ariza, held scoreless in the first half, had 13 points by the 6:37 mark of the third, with his first 3-pointer giving Houston a 66-63 lead.

When Ariza closed his individual spurt with his third 3-pointer of the period, the Rockets led 77-67. Houston ultimately stretched its advantage to 23 points early in the fourth quarter, riding its tenacious defense to 11 fast-break points courtesy of five steals in the third alone.

"When we really focus and lock in on defense, it always ignites our offense," said Ariza, who posted 16 points and a steal. "We always get fast-break opportunities, we always get easy buckets and the sooner we realize that, the better off we're going to be. It's going to be a lot better for us."

The Rockets finished with 12 steals, 19 fast-break points, and scored 25 points off 18 New York turnovers. Houston beat the Knicks for the 24th time in the last 26 meetings, and recorded its 11th season series sweep over the last 13 years.

Michael Beasley paced the Knicks (10-9) with a season-high 30 points while Kyle O'Quinn added a double-double of 20 points and 15 rebounds. Beasley and O'Quinn were subbing on the frontline for injured starters Kristaps Porzingis and Enes Kanter, both out with back woes.

Beasley and Courtney Lee were instrumental in the Knicks' first-quarter blitz, combining for 32 points on 13-for-16 shooting as New York dashed to a 29-7 lead on the fourth consecutive Beasley basket with 4:36 left in the opening period. But Lee scored only two points the rest of the way while Beasley shot just 3 of 8 while totaling six points in the second half.

"They have nine different starters on their team and nine guys that can go off for not just 20 points, but six threes, and that depletes any team," Beasley said of the Rockets, who hit 18 of 47 3-pointers. "We just let the 3-point shots get us down."

Behind their bench, the Rockets began a steady climb back into contention starting at the end of the first, with Luc Mbah a Moute, Ryan Anderson and Eric Gordon totaling four 3-pointers as the first came to a conclusion, cutting the deficit to 10.

By the intermission, Houston reserves had 30 points on 11-for-18 shooting. Anderson finished with 17 points and seven rebounds while playing only 19 minutes.

"That's what the team is about," Harden said. "The starters aren't always going to get it done at the beginning of the game. The bench came in with that energy and we started trimming that deficit down, and in the second half we put on a show defensively, especially in that third quarter."

As the non-Beasley Knicks cooled, the Rockets kept chipping away at the deficit, finally pulling even at 51-51 on a pair of Chris Paul free throws with 3:08 left in the half.

Houston opened the second half with a 13-2 run and the Knicks, playing the second game of a back-to-back, exhausted their energy in falling to 1-6 on the road.

"We ran out of juice," Lee said. "We had the early lead on those guys and we knew that they haven't played in three days and they kind of got out of rhythm. We knew it was going to be tough on them. We had a little rhythm since we played (Friday) night and once we started missing shots, we got a little stagnant and they started making shots and starting making us work. They dug into our legs and we didn't recover from their runs."

NOTES: With C Enes Kanter (back spasms) sidelined for a second consecutive game, the Knicks were also without F Kristaps Porzingis (lower back tightness). Porzingis also missed the second game of a back-to-back on Nov. 8 at Orlando. ... Rockets F Ryan Anderson (illness) and G Eric Gordon (calf) rejoined the rotation, marking just the second time this season Houston had its nine primary rotation players available. ... Rockets G James Harden became just the fourth player since the 1990-91 season to score 20-plus points in each of his team's first 19 games.