Harden leads Rockets to win over Spurs.
With seven games on the NBA schedule on Saturday night, the Houston Rockets came away with the biggest win after inflicting a first home loss of the season on the San Antonio Spurs.
The Rockets risked wasting a 23-point lead at one stage of the game, but James Harden had a game-high 31 points, scoring 16 points in the final quarter, to ensure that Houston came away with the win.
Chandler Parsons had 25, and Harden revealed in his post-game interview that this marked a big improvement for his team from last season where they may have folded in that atmosphere.
“It’s a great win for us,” Harden said, as reported by ESPN.
“Last year we probably would have caved in; they would have beaten us by a lot. So, this year the improvement we’ve adjusted to has been tremendous. A back-to-back in San Antonio is always tough, but we showed resiliency and pulled out a great win.”
Meanwhile, Tony Parker returned from injury to post up 27 points while Tim Duncan added 20 and Marco Belinelli scored 18, but it wasn’t enough to prevent the Spurs from slipping to 14-3 for the season.
Elsewhere, the Washington Wizards and Cleveland Cavaliers picked up wins against the Atlanta Hawks and Chicago Bulls respectively.
The Bulls temporarily silenced the critics with their big win over the Detroit Pistons earlier this week, but the loss in Cleveland was another reminder of their inability to compete without Derrick Rose leading their offense.
There was better news for the Brooklyn Nets though who picked up their fifth win of the season on the road against the Memphis Grizzlies.
Brook Lopez has returned from injury and continued to display his importance to Jason Kidd’s team with 20 points and nine rebounds, while Joe Johnson had a team-high of 26 points.
Meanwhile, the Utah Jazz and Milwaukee Bucks picked up wins over the Phoenix Suns and Boston Celtics, while the Minnesota Timberwolves got back to winning ways with a 112-106 triumph against the Dallas Mavericks.
NBA Results:
Atlanta Hawks 101-108 Washington Wizards
Chicago Bulls 93-97 Cleveland Cavaliers
Brooklyn Nets 97-88 Memphis Grizzlies
Minnesota Timberwolves 112-106 Dallas Mavericks
Houston Rockets 112-106 San Antonio Spurs
Utah Jazz 112-104 Phoenix Suns
Boston Celtics 85-92 Milwaukee Bucks
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