Rockets 116, Trail Blazers 101: James Harden scored 33 points and Dwight Howard had 29 points and 13 rebounds as visiting Houston defeated Portland.

Harden made 11-of-18 shots in his second 30-point outing of the season and Howard was 10-of-13 shooting as the Rockets won for the fourth time in five games. Patrick Beverley and Jeremy Lin added 12 points apiece for Houston, which made 12-of-18 final-quarter shots and shot 54.7 percent overall.

Damian Lillard scored 22 points, LaMarcus Aldridge added 21 and Wesley Matthews tallied 19 for the Trail Blazers. Nicolas Batum added 13 points for Portland, which shot just 41.4 percent from the field.

Portland battled back from an 18-point third-quarter deficit to pull within five early in the fourth. Beverley hit a 3-pointer and Harden scored on a three-point play to get the edge back to 11 and Houston protected the lead down the stretch.

Harden and Howard each had 18 points in the first half as the Rockets took a 55-50 lead into the break. Houston scored the first 10 of the third quarter and led 74-56 after Howard’s basket with 5:20 left in the stanza.

GAME NOTEBOOK: Beverley played 29 minutes off the bench after missing three games with an abdominal injury. … Lillard (four) and Matthews (three) combined for seven of Portland’s 10 3-pointers. … Houston had a 54-28 edge in points in the paint.