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DENVER -- The Houston Rockets sure didnt look -- or play -- like a tired team.James Harden scored 20 points and the Rockets led from start to finish in beating the Denver Nuggets 128-110 on Friday night.Eric Gordon and Ryan Anderson had 18 points each and Sam Dekker added 17 for Houston, which completed an impressive back-to-back road sweep that began with a 132-127 win over Golden State in double overtime Thursday.The latest victory came despite the Rockets 5 a.m. Friday arrival in Denver. Most of the players and coaches got little sleep before playing the Nuggets.Its a good win for us, Harden said. Last night, double-overtime game, getting in at 5 a.m. and not really sleeping. ... We got off to a really good start, guys knocked down shots and just rode that wave the entire game.Rockets coach Mike DAntoni said the win was especially gratifying because of the circumstances and the way his team played.A lot of positives, he said. They found the energy to go ahead and finish up the game. It wasnt always pretty. Its a special group that can conjure that kind of energy in altitude after getting in at 5 oclock in the morning.Wilson Chandler had 24 points to lead the Nuggets, who had won three straight against the Rockets. The Nuggets have lost four of five overall and fell to 3-7 this season at home, the high-altitude venue where they once routinely dominated.Moreover, coach Michael Malone lit into his squad after the game over its lackluster performance.Its one thing to lose games but when youre outworked on your home floor -- Miami did it, Houston did it -- I have no explanation, Malone said. All I know is that it is unacceptable and thats why I do apologize to our fans because they deserve better.Were a bad team right now and I have to start doing a much better job because the direction were headed right now is in a bad, bad place.Up by 10 points at halftime, the Rockets took a 99-84 lead into the fourth quarter and kept the pressure on the rest of the way as part of a sharpshooting display that included converting 17 of 37 3-point attempts against a listless Nuggets defense. Denver went 9 of 30 from beyond the arc.The Rockets took a 73-63 halftime lead over the Nuggets, who allowed a season high in points by an opponent over the first two quarters.Houston led by as many as 15 in the first half, hitting nine 3-pointers, including four by Anderson, to gain early separation with its highest-scoring output over the first two quarters this season.The lack of defensive urgency by Denver was epitomized by Gordons fast-break layup at the halftime buzzer as he drove the length of the court virtually uncontested in the final 3 seconds of the period.TIP-INSRockets: F Trevor Ariza left the game in the final minutes with back spasms, DAntoni said, apparently after coming down awkwardly while going for a rebound. ... Houston has made at least 10 3-pointers in 19 consecutive games, the longest streak of its kind in NBA history. ... Houstons previous high for first-half points was 71 against the Los Angeles Lakers on Oct. 26. ... The Rockets are 7-2 on the road since beginning the season 2-3.Nuggets: C Nikola Jokic missed the game because of a sore left wrist. ... G Gary Harris remains sidelined with a right foot injury. ... G Will Barton returned from an ankle injury that sidelined him for the previous two games.QUOTABLEThey played harder than us. They wanted the game more than us. It was a bad loss on our home court. They came back very, very late (to Denver). We should have jumped on them since the beginning and it was the opposite. -- Nuggets forward Danilo Gallinari.UP NEXTRockets: Completed a five-game trip and return home to host the Boston Celtics on Monday night.Nuggets: Play at Utah on Saturday night in the first stop of a six-game trip.Ryan Pulock Islanders Jersey . JOHNS, N. Scott Mayfield Islanders Jersey . 1 position. The Mustangs (6-0), who beat Queens 50-31 last weekend, earned 17 first-place votes and 287 points in voting by the Football Reporters of Canada. Western was last ranked first in the country in October 2011. http://www.islanderssale.com/authentic-thomas-greiss-islanders-jersey/ . The Nashville Predators were glad their captain was still on their side. Weber had a goal and two assists, and Roman Josi scored the shootout winner to lift the Predators to a 4-3 win over the Flyers on Thursday night. Nick Leddy Jersey . Denis Coderre, the former federal MP who was elected mayor on Nov. 3, has drawn the ire of some Montreal Canadiens. During last nights game he tweeted: "Hello? Can we get a one-way ticket to (minor-league) Hamilton for David Desharnais please. Tom Kuhnhackl Islanders Jersey . Batiste, who briefly signed with the Eskimos in 2006, has spent time with several NFL teams including the Pittsburgh Steelers and Washington Redskins.RIO DE JANEIRO -- Great Britains Katy McLean has already achieved the pinnacle of winning the World Cup in 15s but the sheer magnitude of the Olympics has stopped her in her tracks.Playing in pressure matches is nothing new for McLean -- she captained England to their 2014 World Cup triumph -- but she is expecting pit-of-the-stomach nerves when standing in the tunnel before their first match of the womens sevens tournament against hosts Brazil on Saturday at the Deodoro Stadium.Team GB have been together since October and competed as a group on last seasons World Sevens Series. At the crux of Britains womens sevens side will be the team of England players who won World Cup gold in 2014, and now they have a shot at sevens glory.?I thought they [World Cup and Rio 2016] might be similar but the Olympics is so grand, Mclean told ESPN. Its got so much history and tradition to it and so many great athletes that are part of it and we are now in that same bracket of people who have participated in the Olympics.But there are similarities you can draw with how to deal with the pressure and how to focus on our performance rather than get too carried away with the things going on around you.The Olympics journey started in 2014 for McLean, soon after Englands World Cup win. The Rugby Football Union handed out fulltime sevens contracts to 20 players, effectively ruling them out of 15s availability.It was a controversial move as a number of their 2014 World Cup-winners were unable to play in the 2015 and 2016 Six Nations for England, perhaps passing up the opportunity to build on the spike of interest following their triumph, but it was a statement of intent over their gold-medal aspirations.The team finished fourth on the 2015-16 World Series and Australia will head into the womens sevens competition as favourites but there is a confidence in Great Britains contingent, one formed of 11 England players and Wales Jasmine Joyce.After travelling to Belo Horizonte for their pre-Games training camp they were given a pep taalk from Sir Clive Woodward and it was then that it struck home for McLean exactly what it meant to be part of Team GB.ddddddddddddBelo Horizonte was amazing for us, McLean said. It was the first experience of being part of the whole Team GB setup. There were other athletes arriving so it got bigger and bigger and it was a really good opportunity for us as a squad to fine tune the last bits of rugby going into Rio so that was a massive success.The facilities were out of this world and to be able to train at the temperatures were going to play will make a massive difference so it really helped.Living in the Olympic Village was an overwhelming experience at first as they had never encountered anything like it, but on a personal level McLean had already overcome her biggest obstacle: to reach Rio, she had to change position.By her own admission, if she had stuck to her 15s fly-half role, she may have missed out on a spot in the squad so instead she switched to playing at hooker in the forwards.The hooker rules suit me more so as I can get hands on the ball a lot more but it means I have to work ridiculously hard in defence as you get stuck in the middle of the pitch, she said. But hopefully Ive transitioned quite well and I love the role Im in.Her on-field goal is simple: to lay the foundations so the backs can set the stage on fire while off-field, she will be using her vast experience to ensure nerves are used to drive performance and hopefully a medal.We have to keep remembering we are here to perform, McLean said. We have just got to make sure that we stick to our planning and processes. There have been so many different winners in the World Series this year.Australia and New Zealand have got to be the favourites -- their consistency of form has been phenomenal this year -- and you have got the likes of us, Canada, USA and the hosts Brazil. We are all looking forward to it. ' ' '