James Harden leads Rockets in 100-82 victory over Hornets

After a streak in which the Rockets made winnable games look like impossibilities and gimme games look like difficult challenges, the Rockets responded on Friday night with a convincing 10R0-82 win over the New Orleans Hornets. Omer Asik looked positively awful for the fourth game in a row, but a number of struggling starters rallied with some tremendous performances.

James Harden's game was perhaps the most important. After four straight games where Harden shot below 30% from the field, Harden has played well in each of the last two nights, with tonight's effort netting him 30 points and 8 assists on just 15 shots. His 8 turnovers are inexcusable, but you have to take the good and the bad with him when he's scoring as well as he is.

Additionally, Patrick Patterson had his first really solid performance in weeks. He finished the game with 18 points and 13 assists, and really picked up the slack on a night where Omer Asik was a ghost. Armin, or as most of y'all know him, ak2themax, had the tweet of the night describing Patterson's performance.

Patrick Patterson playing more like @patrickharrel tonight. #dominant

— Armin Khansari (@ak2themax) January 26, 2013

Another interesting note from tonight was that Toney Douglas appeared to get a second chance at his spot in the rotation while Patrick Beverley sat on the bench. It will be interesting to see if that trend continues tomorrow night.

I'm sorry for the short recap, but it's a Friday night game and we're busy people. Remember the Rockets play the Nets tomorrow at 8 PM CST. Go out to the Toyota Center and cheer them on!