Rockets close on top priority

HOUSTON－There was no celebrating in Houston's locker room on Thursday night after the Rockets clinched the Southwest Division title.

"It's good, but not this year. We want that No 1 seed and that's the main goal right now," Eric Gordon said.

James Harden scored 24 points, Gordon added 23 and the Rockets outlasted the Los Angeles Clippers for a 101-96 win. The victory, coupled with a loss by the New Orleans Pelicans to the San Antonio Spurs, wrapped up the division.

Gordon was 8 of 13 and 7 of 9 on 3-pointers on Thursday after scoring just one point and going 0 for 7 in Houston's last game. He has 27 20-point games this season after finishing with 19 last season. Gordon's seven 3s tied a season high after he went 0 for 6 from long range on Monday.

The Rockets have won 27 of their last 30 games and need just one more win to match last season's total of 55. But they have no intention of letting up in these last 14 games as they try to stay ahead of Golden State for the top seed in the Western Conference.

"It was a good win for us," Chris Paul said. "We know that team over there is fighting for their playoff lives and we knew we were going to get a good shot from them."

The Clippers scored six straight points, with four from Austin Rivers, to cut the lead to a basket with less than a minute left. But on the next possession, Harden stepped back and knocked down a long 2-pointer with Rivers in his face to make it 100-96.

Rivers missed a 3-pointer after that before Harden made one of two free throws with 6.2 seconds left to secure the victory.

It's Houston's third straight win and snaps a three-game winning streak for the Clippers, who are vying for one of the last postseason spots in the conference.

Clippers coach Doc Rivers didn't seem too happy with the officiating after the game. "It was 24-8 in free throws," Rivers said, though Houston actually shot 23.

"That's a joke. That is a complete joke. I thought our guys drove and got hit all game, and (Lou) Williams down the stretch got killed on a play and no call.

"Our guys played their hearts out, but for them to shoot that many more free throws than us, and we're the team attacking it just doesn't make basketball sense to me."

Tobias Harris led the Clippers with 29 points and Rivers had 20.

The Clippers scored six points in a row, with the last four from Jawun Evans, to tie it at 80-all early in the fourth quarter. Houston got 3-pointers from Gordon and Luc Mbah a Moute in an 8-2 run after that to make it 88-82 with 8 1/2 minutes left.

Houston maintained a lead of seven or eight points for the next few minutes before the late run by Los Angeles.

AP