James Harden felt it would have been easy for the depleted Houston Rockets to "chalk it up" against the Minnesota Timberwolves and hailed the collective effort in their comprehensive 125-105 win.

The Rockets were without the quality of Russell Westbrook, Clint Capela, Danuel House Jr and Eric Gordon but a Harden-inspired Houston chalked up a seventh straight victory.

Harden posted 49 points from 41 shots – the most he has attempted in his NBA career – as the Rockets outclassed the Timberwolves.

But the seven-time All-Star was keen to hail the collective effort in Minnesota.

"We just know how much depth we have," said Harden. "Guys like Chris [Clemons] and Isaiah [Hartenstein], Tyson [Chandler], who started the last two games, Thabo [Sefolosha], just everybody – it was a collective effort.

"We've got six, seven guys out. So, it could have been an easy game, where we just chalked it up and got ready for next game. We wanted to come here and win this game and we showed it.

"We can't take any game for granted. We showed that. I think the first half we gave up too many points. Second half we locked back in. 

"They barely got over 100 points. That's pretty much the goal every single game. Guys didn't look around. We manned up and got a win."