THE Houston Rockets squandered a double-digit lead in the fourth quarter before James Harden helped them come back to get their third straight victory, a 102-95 win over the Charlotte Hornets, on Monday.

    The game was tied before Harden drove into the lane and was fouled as he made a layup. He hit the free throw to put Houston up 94-91 with 31.6 seconds left.

    “We put the ball in his hands. He’s the closer,’’ interim coach J.B. Bickerstaff said. “So in those situations he’s just got to make the right play.’’

    Cody Zeller attempted a dunk contested by Terrence Jones and it bounced off the rim and back to the Rockets a few seconds after that. The Hornets fouled Patrick Beverley and he made two free throws to extend the lead to 96-91.

    Jeremy Lin made two free throws after that but missed a pair after Beverley made one for the Rockets.

    Harden attempted 19 free throws and secured the win by making two with 13.9 seconds remaining.

    Kemba Walker led the Hornets with 14 points.

    A 3-pointer by Beverley extended Houston’s lead to 79-66 with about 9 minutes left before Charlotte scored the next 13 points to tie it up about 9 minutes later. Frank Kaminsky got things going in that span with a three-point play and Lin and Spencer Hawes both made 3-pointers to power the run.

    The Rockets got back on track after that with a 3-pointer by Harden for their first points in almost 3 minutes and a two-handed dunk by Jones came next to put them up 84-79.

    (SD-Agencies)