James Harden Comments After 'Quadruple-Double' with 10 Turnovers in Rockets Loss

The Houston Rockets lost their third straight game Saturday, falling behind 20-0 in the first quarter on their way to a 108-99 loss to the Charlotte Hornets.

Playing without Russell Westbrook, James Harden finished with 30 points, 14 assists and 10 rebounds but was also responsible for 10 of Houston's 20 turnovers. It was the third "quadruple-double" of Harden's career, including turnovers.

"We have to do a better job defensively to make our offense a lot better. We didn't make enough shots," Harden told reporters after the game. "Obviously, down 20-0 is tough to come back on anybody, but we did, to give ourselves a chance, but we just couldn't continue to sustain that kind of intensity throughout the four-quarter game."

The Hornets spent a significant portion of the game playing a box-and-one defense, a man-zone hybrid that's rarely used outside the high school level. The strategy worked, as Harden made just eight of his 22 shots, including a 2-of-11 mark from three-point range.

"I've never experienced that before," coach Mike D'Antoni said. "Twenty-zero, that's a big deficit to overcome, and for whatever reason when we did attack we turned it over; it was kind of weird. And we couldn't stop them. Just a little bit of sluggishness, for whatever reason."

The Rockets' losing streak has dropped them to four games behind the surging Los Angeles Clippers for the No. 2 seed in the West. Houston is currently the No. 5 seed but is now closer to No. 7 than unseating the Utah Jazz for home court in the first round.

Making matters worse is that two of those losses came against the Hornets and New York Knicks, two of the worst teams in the NBA. Those are the types of games good teams have to win in close playoff races. The fact that Houston is playing down to its competition does not speak well for its chances in April and May.