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HOUSTON -- Dwight Howard is happy and healthy in Houston, and coach Kevin McHale is pleased with how his superstar centre has played so far this season. Howard scored 23 points, James Harden and Chandler Parsons each had 19 and the Rockets used a big third-quarter run to pull away for a 109-94 win over the Chicago Bulls on Wednesday night. "Hes just got a nice rhythm," McHale said of Howard. "When he goes fast there is a reason to go fast. When he goes slow, hes setting guys up. Basketball is such a game of rhythm and hes in a nice flow right now." Howard joined the Rockets in July after one tumultuous season with the Lakers. He said hes feeling good, but has been spending extra time after practice working on his post moves in an attempt to improve. "I love it here," he said. "Its a great place to be. Were having some early success, but were not happy with where were at. We want to continue to get better. We dont want to get satisfied." The Rockets are 17-9 and in second place in the Southwest Division behind San Antonio. The Bulls trailed by three with 5 1/2 minutes left in the third before their offence went cold. Houston took advantage of the scoring drought, using a 15-1 spurt to make it 83-66 entering the final period. "That was tremendous," Harden said. "Weve been striking out these last couple of games in closing quarters and Coach has been preaching to us to make sure we go on a little run to close every quarter out. Tonight we did it and weve got to be consistent with that." Chicago missed six shots and had five turnovers in that decisive stretch, while Omri Casspi scored seven points to power Houstons offence. The Rockets picked up the victory in the return of McHale, who had missed the previous three games following the death of his mother. Jimmy Butlers 20 points tied his season high and led the Bulls, who have dropped three in a row and 12 of 15. "Were losing, so mentally its tough," Chicagos Joakim Noah said. "When you lose, its not fun but we have to keep battling. The games keep coming and nobody feels sorry for us and we cant feel sorry for ourselves." Harden started despite spraining his left ankle Sunday night. He had scored at least 25 points in five consecutive games. Harden said he got stepped on again on Wednesday night and was very sore after the game. He figures hell feel worse on Thursday. "Probably," he said. "I try not to think about it. Well wait until tomorrow and see how it feels." Howard had nine rebounds and Harden had six assists and three steals. Bulls point guard Kirk Hinrich missed his third consecutive game because of back stiffness. D.J. Augustin, signed on Friday, made his first start for Chicago in Hinrichs place. He finished with eight points and nine assists. Luol Deng scored 18 points for Chicago. Carlos Boozer had 17 and Taj Gibson added 14. "At the end of the day it comes down to the fact that we have to get guys healthy," Boozer said. "It seems like we are always missing somebody, but well do the best we can to fight through it." With 11 1/2 minutes left in the fourth quarter, Deng scored Chicagos first basket since there were more than 5 minutes left in the third. Casspi scored four points soon after that to extend Houstons lead to 89-70. Patrick Beverley had 15 points, Casspi added 11 and Terrence Jones had a career-high six assists for Houston. The Bulls used a 10-4 run to cut the lead to 68-65 with about 5 1/2 minutes left in the third. Augustin scored five points in that stretch and Butler added a 3-pointer. Casspi ended the run with a 3 and Howard tacked on a dunk a minute after that to start Houstons big surge. Deng got Chicago within eight points late in the second quarter, but Beverley extended Houstons lead to 57-46 at halftime when Deng fell down and he sank an off-balance 3 at the buzzer. Officials at first said it didnt count, but a review showed he got it off in time. NOTES: Houston PG Jeremy Lin missed his second straight game with back spasms. ... Bulls coach Tom Thibodeau said he doesnt expect Hinrich to be out for an extended period. Nikola Jokic Nuggets Jersey . This is not some token job for a prominent, popular former player. All of those areas need a lot of work, so Molitor is going to be busy. "Hes certainly got a history and knowledge and a high baseball IQ," general manager Terry Ryan said. Paul Millsap Nuggets Jersey . The United States clinched the final berth into the Ford Worlds, March 28-April 6 at Scotiabank Centre in Halifax, on Saturday in Blaine, Minn. http://www.nuggetsproshop.com/Michael-Porter-Nuggets-Jersey/. - Chris Davis hit a two-run double, scoring Nelson Cruz in his Orioles debut in Baltimores 9-7 win over to the Toronto Blue Jays on Saturday. Paul Millsap Jersey . Jacob Jacques, Andrew Ryan and Jonathan Drouin also scored for Halifax (37-18-3), who outshot the Islanders 40-26. Kevin Darveau stopped 25 shots. Bradley Kennedy had the lone goal for Charlottetown (18-33-5), which has nine losses in its last 10 games. Malik Beasley Jersey . -- Arizona coach Bruce Arians says there "were obviously very, very many problems" with the officiating in the Cardinals 24-21 loss at Philadelphia.PHILADELPHIA -- A change of scenery has done Jerome Williams well. Jimmy Rollins homered and Williams tossed eight strong innings to lead the Philadelphia Phillies to a 7-1 victory over the St. Louis Cardinals on Sunday. "Im just happy that Im actually doing the job that Ive been doing," Williams said. "My stuff was there. Its just I wasnt using it right. I think Im using it right now." Williams (2-0) continued his fine form with Philadelphia, his third team this season. The right-hander allowed one run on five hits while setting a season high for innings. He was claimed off waivers Aug. 10 from Texas and has a 1.77 ERA since coming to the Phillies after pitching to a 6.71 ERA prior to his arrival in Philadelphia. Ben Revere had a pair of hits and an RBI for Philadelphia, which took two of three from the Cardinals for consecutive series wins for the first time since April. Jhonny Peralta and Oscar Taveras had a pair of hits for St. Louis, which lost for just the third time in 11 games. Justin Masterson (2-2) was lifted after giving up five runs and six hits in three innings. His ERA ballooned to 7.43 ERA in five starts since the Cardinals acquired him from Cleveland on July 30. "Its frustrating but Im trying to stay positive," Masterson said. "Its my responsibility to pitch better. Its a hard thing when youre not doing it." Cardinals manager Mike Matheny stood behind Masterson. "It was just one of those days," he said. "Well continue to work with him. Hes a worker. He wants to help us do better." Chase Utleys RBI single put Philadelphia in front in the first. The Phillies scored two more in the second on Williams bunt and Reveres single, and Wil Nieves RBI single in the third made it 3-0. Nick Greenwood relieved Masterson and retired 10 straight batters before Reveres one-out single in the seventh. Rollins followed with a drive over the wall in left. It was the 16th homer for Rollins, who hit just six last season. St. Louiss got its lone run in the fourth on Taveras single.dddddddddddd But the Cardinals couldnt get anything else off Williams. Revere, who began Sunday two points behind Justin Morneau for the NL batting lead, raised his average to .314 with his 26th multihit game since June 26. TRAINERS ROOM Cardinals: Matt Adams was back in the lineup at first base a day after Matheny said he tweaked his back fielding a throw in the 12th inning. Adams went 0 for 3 with a strikeout and showed no ill effects in the field. Phillies: OF John Mayberry Jr. (wrist) played in his fourth rehab game with Triple-A Lehigh Valley on Sunday. Mayberry entered Sunday 3 for 11 with a homer for the Iron Pigs. UP NEXT Cardinals: St. Louis travels to Pittsburgh for the first of three with the Pirates on Monday night. RHP John Lackey makes his fifth start for the Cards since his July 31 trade from Boston. Phillies: Philadelphia hosts NL East-leading Washington for the first of three on Monday night. RHP A.J. Burnett takes the mound for the Phillies in search of his first win since the All-Star break. Burnett is 0-6 with a 7.41 ERA in seven starts since the break. NO EXCUSES Matheny said Sundays loss wasnt the result of the quick turnaround after Saturdays 12-inning marathon that took 4 hours, 53 minutes. "Were a team that doesnt give excuses," he said. "There was life. I didnt think we were dragging." BEN ON THE RUN Revere made all three outs in the seventh inning on long runs in centre. He limped back to his position after his second catch and has been struggling with a sore right ankle that was surgically repaired in the off-season. "He seems to hobble on slow-speed plays but going full speed hes totally fine," Phillies manager Ryne Sandberg said. PLAYER-MANAGER MEETINGS Sandberg spoke with OF Domonic Brown and RHP David Buchanan prior to Sundays game following their comments Saturday night. Brown questioned his playing time and Buchanan wondered why he was lifted after just five innings. ' ' '