The Sixers' home winning streak over the Rockets was snapped with Monday night’s 104-93 loss.
The Sixers had beaten the Rockets the previous three meetings at the Wells Fargo Center.
Brandon Davies appeared in his 55th NBA game but made his first-ever start. Davies started in place of Henry Sims and followed up his career-high 18 points on Saturday night with 13 points and four rebounds against the Rockets.
Turning point
The Sixers scrapped all game, but there Achilles heel of defending the three-point line again reared its ugly head.
With 7:09 to play, James Harden drained a wide-open three-pointer. It was Harden’s third made three-pointer of the game and the 12th overall for the Rockets to give them an 88-80 lead.
That Rockets made 16 threes in the game but that one by Harden seemed to take the last bit of fight out of the Sixers.
NBA
Follow the leader
Harden led all scorers with 35 points. He was 7 for 18 from the field, but an efficient 17 of 18 at the foul line. Harden also pulled down nine rebounds and handed out five assists.
Trevor Ariza made six three-pointers on his way to 24 points.
Tony Wroten led the Sixers with 20 points. He was one of six Sixers to score in double figures.
K.J. McDaniels came off the bench to score a career-high 14 points.
Stat-egic
The Rockets came into the game leading the NBA in threes made per game (12.7) and second in three-point percentage (42.2).
So it’s no surprise that the Rockets were more than comfortable behind the arc on Monday night. Houston shot 47.1 percent from long range (16 of 34) against the Sixers.
The Sixers had their best three-point shooting game of the young season, making 11 of 22 attempts. They came into the game shooting just 26.9 percent from three-point range.
Health check
Sims missed shootaround because of an upper-respiratory infection, but he felt well enough to come off the bench for 13 minutes. He scored two points and grabbed four rebounds.
Dwight Howard played despite a sore right knee. He finished with 11 points, 14 rebounds, four blocks, three assists and three steals.
Take a bow
Nerlens Noel bounced back nicely from his two-point performance against the Heat in the Sixers’ home opener.
Noel was 5 of 8 from the field for 10 points. He also had five assists, six steals and one monster block on a Harden dunk attempt at the third-quarter buzzer.
However, for the third straight game Noel did not get to the foul line and in 30 minutes he grabbed only one rebound.
What's next?
The Sixers host Orlando on Wednesday. The Magic are also looking for their first win of the season after dropping their first three games.
Former Sixer Nikola Vucevic, now in his fourth year, is averaging 17.7 points and 15.7 rebounds per game for Orlando.