Wizards overcome James Harden’s big night to top Rockets

James Harden was named the league’s MVP for a reason last season. Against the Wizards on Monday, it was easy to remember why.

But on a night when the Houston Rockets guard shined, the Wizards had two of their own stars to answer back.

John Wall and Bradley Beal led Washington to a 135-131 overtime win at Capital One Arena, despite Harden’s 54 points and 13 assists. Wall had a season-high 36 points and Beal added 32 en route to the Wizards’ second straight win.

Both were enough to top Harden, who was spectacular.

“You watched a lot of high-level players play at a high level,” Wizards coach Scott Brooks said. “Amazing players all had great games, and the role players played like stars in their roles.”

Harden’s 50th point came with 3:20 left in the game — and on a four-point play in which he hit a step back three over Wizards reserve Jeff Green, who committed the foul.

Later on, Harden found center Clint Capela for a game-tying alley-oop with 9.8 seconds left.

That basket forced overtime, which was controlled by the Wizards. Washington was able to pull out the win because it limited Harden down the stretch.

“It was like whoever defends first was going to win,” Beal said with a laugh. “For the most part, I think we did a good job defensively. James is James. … We contested a lot of the tough ones and we did make it tough on them, I think. … Defensively, the effort was there. The energy was there and we accepted the challenges.”

The Wizards were woeful in the first quarter. Houston is known for its ability to jack up 3-pointers at high volume, but Washington did little to prevent the Rockets. The Rockets hit their first seven 3-pointers and led by 42-30 — marking the seventh time this season that the Wizards had allowed at least 35 points to begin the game.

But Washington clawed its way back, in part, because the Wizards were better defensively — and Houston started to miss shots. After shooting 63 percent from deep in the first, Houston went just 1-for-11 in the second from beyond the arc. The Wizards, too, started to drain their own shots, with an energetic Wall generating offense by driving to the rim and kicking out to shooters.

Washington led 67-65 at halftime.

The Rockets, though, had plenty left — thanks to Harden. He scored 21 points in the third, carving the Wizards up from the three-point line, inside the paint and at the foul line. Houston took back the lead by the end of the quarter. Houston’s Eric Gordon, who finished with 36 points, was also a problem.

In the fourth, Washington got a boost from its bench. Austin Rivers, Markieff Morris and Green all hit timely baskets to keep the Wizards competitive until the end. With less than two minutes remaining, Morris tipped back a key rebound to Beal, who drained a go-ahead step back 3-pointer to lead 124-123. But the Wizards scored just one more point in regulation as Otto Porter split a pair of free throws down the stretch, which let Houston tie the game on an alley-oop to Capela.

On the Wizards’ final possession of regulation, Wall had a game-winning attempt stripped.

The Wizards, however, kept their composure in overtime, coming up with a win in the process.

“It’s what we dream of,” Wall said of the atmosphere. “We live for going on a big stage against a guy like [Harden] that can score the ball and do so many different things in different ways.”