That same day, the Rockets declined to match the three-year, $46 million offer sheet that Chandler Parsons received from the Mavericks, and to compensate for his departure, the Rockets agreed to bring back Trevor Ariza on a four-year, $32 million deal in free agency. The deal was officially completed as a three-team trade, in which the Rockets received Ariza in a sign and trade from the Washington Wizards and traded Ömer Aşık to the New Orleans Pelicans. With double-digit wins against the Lakers, Utah, Boston and Philadelphia to start the 2014–15 NBA season, the Rockets recorded a 4–0 start for the first time since they won their first six games of the 1996–97 season. By recording double-digit wins against Miami and San Antonio in their next two games, the Rockets won each of their first six games by 10 points or more, and became the first team to accomplish the feat since the 1985–86 Denver Nuggets. In December, the Rockets acquired Corey Brewer and Josh Smith, two veterans who added depth to the roster. While the Rockets had many key players miss time throughout the entire season, James Harden took it upon himself to keep the Rockets near the top of the conference, which turned him into an MVP front-runner. On March 20, 2015, Harden scored a career-high 50 points in a 118–108 victory over the Nuggets. Harden became the first Rocket to score 50 points since Hakeem Olajuwon scored 51 against the Celtics in 1996. On April 1, Harden scored 51 points in a 115–111 win over the Sacramento Kings, becoming the first player in franchise history to record multiple 50 point games in a season. On April 15, 2015, the Rockets won their 56th game of the season and finished with the third-best regular season record in franchise history. On that same night, the Rockets claimed their first ever Southwest Division title and first Division crown since 1994. In the playoffs, the Rockets beat the Mavericks 4–1 in the first round. In the Conference Semifinals, the Los Angeles Clippers built a 3–1 lead over the Rockets, before the Rockets won the last three games in the series to return to the Conference Finals for the first time in 18 years, this time against the Golden State Warriors. With their win over the Clippers, the Rockets became just the ninth team in NBA history to win a playoff series in which they faced a 3–1 deficit. In the Conference Finals, the Warriors won the first three games before Harden scored 45 points to win Game 4 at the Toyota Center.