NEW YORK _ The game was less than a minute old when James Harden fired up his first shot, a 3-pointer that slid cleanly through the net as Emmanuel Mudiay fouled him, turning it into a four-point play to begin the festivities at Madison Square Garden.
With the Knicks at 10-35 entering the game the allure of wins and losses is long gone, but there was a bit of intrigue on display as the Knicks took on the Houston Rockets. Could Harden, in his record-setting run, add something else to his resume, a Madison Square Garden scoring record.
From that first play Harden steadily poured it on, 19 points in the first quarter, 36 by halftime and 49 by the end of the third quarter. When it was over, it was with his defense that Harden matched a Garden record, stealing the ball from Noah Vonleh and dunking with 3.9 seconds left to score his 61st point, tying Kobe Bryant for the most points scored by a Knicks opponent at the Garden, and securing a 114-110 win for the Rockets.
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