James Harden talks about his big performance against the Spurs and explains how he was able to get some good looks. (0:54)

James Harden lit up the San Antonio Spurs for 61 points on Friday, matching his career high as well as the Houston Rockets' franchise record in a 111-105 victory.

Harden also scored 61 on Jan. 23 against the New York Knicks. He joins Wilt Chamberlain, Kobe Bryant and Michael Jordan as the only players with multiple 60-point games in a season in NBA history.

The Spurs collectively shook their heads in exasperation, while the body language of the Rockets reflected awe.

Even Rockets coach Mike D'Antoni tilted his head from side to side, paused a second and stroked his chin during the postgame news conference as he pondered what he'd just witnessed.

After scoring 57 in Wednesday's overtime loss at Memphis, Harden has scored a combined 118 points over his past two outings, tying Jordan and Bryant for the most points in a two-game span over the past 50 seasons, according to Elias Sports Bureau research.

"I don't know how you get any better," D'Antoni said. "Whoever was in the gym tonight probably [saw] something they have never seen before. There's no way. That was one of the best performances -- the magnitude of the game, we needed it -- just everything. I don't know how many points he got in the last four minutes, but we were down. The guy was playing."

San Antonio learned that firsthand from the game's outset.

Still, somehow the Spurs weathered an early first-half storm from Harden to take a six-point lead with 4 minutes, 47 seconds left to play. Harden said that's when his mindset was to "be aggressive."

"We were down," he said.

D'Antoni, meanwhile, said he was "looking for some place to throw up. I felt awful. You knew [the Spurs] were going to turn it around."

Harden took over with 3:58 remaining, nailing a step-back 3-pointer from 26 feet to start a run of 13 consecutive points. Harden hit three consecutive 3s to put Houston up 103-100 with 2:50 left and then banked in a turnaround jumper, before sinking a driving floater with Derrick White defending.