HOUSTON, United States, Nov. 19 (Xinhua) -- The Houston Rockets, which fired head coach Kevin Mchale earlier Wednesday, defeated the visiting Portland Trail Blazers 108-103 in overtime at the Toyota Center in the night.
The Rockets, led by interim head coach J.B. Bickerstaff, led the first quarter with a score of 22-21, but lost the second 13-25, as the visiting team overtook the lead at half time 46-35.
After the half break, the Rockets scored 26 against 30 in the third, but rallied to cut the 15-point defecit as Corey Brewer buried his off-balance 3-pointer with 0.9 seconds remaining to force the overtime with 99-all.
The Rockets avoided their fifth straight loss by finishing the overtime 9-4.
James Harden led the Rockets with 45 points, 11 assists and eight rebounds. Trevor Ariza and Brewer added 18 and 16 points respectively.
For the visiting team, Damian Lillard scored 23 points, C.J. McCollum and Al-Farouq Aminu had 19 and 16 points respectively.
With the win, the Rockets are 5-7 in the season while the Trail Blazers fell to 4-9.