James Harden of the Houston Rockets dunks against the Indiana Pacers on Monday. Photo: CFP

NBA scoring leader James Harden struck for 44 points on Monday to power the Houston Rockets over Indiana 110-100, delivering the Pacers their sixth consecutive defeat.

Harden, who scored a career-high 50 points against Denver just four days earlier, connected on 10 of 21 shots from the floor, including three of eight from the three-point range, and hit 21 of 22 attempts from the free-throw line.

"It's just a matter of me being crafty, getting there, making plays and just doing what I do every single night," said Harden, who leads the league with eight 40-point games this season. "As long as I'm aggressive and in attack mode, good things are going to happen."

"He was just solid. He's a hell of a player," Rockets coach Kevin McHale said. "We don't have our record if James isn't playing at an MVP level, which he's doing. I say it every year, two or three guys play at extraordinary levels, and he's one of them right now."

Harden's 21 free throws were the most ever made by a Pacers opponent, and they came two nights after Indiana allowed a franchise-record shooting ­percentage on their home court to Brooklyn.

The Rockets improved to 47-23 with their fourth win in five games, bouncing back from a loss on Saturday at Phoenix to keep the third best record in the Western Conference and fourth best in the league overall.

Houston, which hit 13 of 24 from ­beyond the three-point arc, kept pace with Southwest Division leaders Memphis, remaining two games off the pace of the Grizzlies, who won 103-82 at New York on Monday.

Rockets reserve Josh Smith added 18 points, Donatas Motiejunas scored 17 and Trevor Ariza grabbed a game-high 11 rebounds for the Rockets, who remain without injured center Dwight Howard but confident they can make a deep run in the playoffs.

C.J. Watson came off the bench to score 23 points to lead Indiana while George Hill scored 20 and Roy Hibbert added 18 points and 10 rebounds.

Pacers star Paul George, who ­suffered a broken leg last year while playing for the US world championship team, warmed up with the team but did not play. His return could come soon as the Pacers fell to 30-40, 10th in the Eastern Conference and one game behind Boston for the eighth and final playoff berth.