BOSTON — James Harden and the Houston Rockets are at their best when they are knocking down 3-pointers, getting points in the paint and racking up points at the free-throw line.

They did all three against the Boston Celtics, and it added up to a mostly easy outing against a team that is continuing to struggle.

Harden had 42 points before fouling out late in the fourth quarter, and Houston held on to beat Boston 115-104 on Sunday for its fifth straight victory.

Harden made six 3-pointers and scored 40 or more points for the 24th time this season. Houston entered the day in fifth place in the Western Conference, a game behind fourth-place Oklahoma City.

Eric Gordon added 32 points and had eight 3-pointers.

“We’re finally healthy, so yeah. It feels good,” Harden said. “(We’re) winning, guys know their roles, we’re executing defensively, we’re helping each other out, we’re talking. That’s all it’s about.”

Boston has lost five of six since returning from the All-Star break. Kyrie Irving led the Celtics with 24 points, nine rebounds and six assists. Al Horford finished with 19 points.

Boston did a decent job trying to contain Harden, limiting him to 14-of-31 shooting from the field and nine free-throw attempts.

But the Celtics were inefficient when they had the ball, shooting 48 percent (37 of 77) overall and 29 percent (8 of 28) from beyond the arc.

The Celtics started the fourth quarter with a 17-6 run to cut what had been a 28-point deficit to 106-96 with 6:08 to play.

Terry Rozier got fouled on a 3-pointer at the five-minute mark, but missed all three free throws.

It was 109-100 when Nene’s rebound gave Houston a second opportunity after a Gordon miss. It wound up in Harden’s hands, and he stepped back and swished his final 3 of the game to push the lead back up to 12.

Harden fouled out when he was called for an offensive foul with 1:44 left.

The Celtics, trailing 112-104, came up empty on their next trip, and they were forced to foul after failing to corral Austin Rivers’ miss from deep.

Boston earned its first victory since the All-Star break on Friday night against Washington. But the Celtics fell back into many of the same bad habits that had caused them to lose four straight prior to that win.

Horford said he couldn’t point to just one thing as the main reason for their problems right now.

“We’ve had some good moments. But right now, unfortunately, we’re going through a really bad stretch,” Horford said. “This is when our group needs to make sure that we stay together.”

Things don’t get any easier for Boston, which plays its next four on the road. Its trip out West begins with a matchup against Golden State and ends with games against the Lakers and Clippers.

Harden (23 points) and Gordon (20 points) matched the Celtics’ output by themselves in the opening 24 minutes.

The Celtics were often careless on offense. They turned it over five times in the five minutes of the game, leading to 10 Rockets points.

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