Harden has big 4th quarter; Rockets beat Clippers 115-109

James Harden scored 16 of his 32 points in the fourth quarter to lift the Houston Rockets to a 115-109 victory over the Los Angeles Clippers on Wednesday night that evened their Western Conference semifinal at one game apiece.

Dwight Howard had 24 points and 16 rebounds for the Rockets, who bounced back from a 117-101 loss in the opener. Game 3 is on Friday night in LA.

Trevor Ariza added 15 points and 13 rebounds for Houston, which made 42 of its 64 free throws.

Blake Griffin led Los Angeles with 34 points but had just eight after halftime as Houston keyed in on him with All-Star point guard Chris Paul out with a hamstring injury.

Coach Doc Rivers said before the game that Paul is getting better but still is not "moving well" Rivers is not sure if Paul will be ready for Game 3 but expects him to play at some point in the series.

The Rockets were down by three early in the fourth before scoring the next eight points, with 3-pointers by Ariza and Harden, to take a 93-88 lead.

Nine straight points by Los Angeles, capped by a 3 from Matt Barnes, cut the lead to four with 1:27 left, but Harden made a layup to extend the lead to 111-105. Howard and Harden each made two free throws to secure the victory. Harden made all 15 free throws. Howard was 8 for 21.