Harden leads Rockets over Spurs

LOS ANGELES

James Harden scored 28 points and dished out 11 assists on Feb. 1 as the Houston Rockets handed the San Antonio Spurs a rare home defeat, 102-91.

Harden showed no sign of a let-down after his historic 60-point triple-double on Tuesday, producing seven points in the final two minutes as the Rockets thwarted a Spurs rally to notch their second win this season over San Antonio.

Down by double-digits much of the contest, the Spurs pulled within 92-85 with 2:49 remaining with the aid of a hook shot from LaMarcus Aldridge and a three-pointer from Bryn Forbes.

The Rockets responded with a three-pointer form Harden, followed by his four-point play with 1:36 left.

“They’re good in this building - they’re great in this building,” Harden said of a Spurs team that endured just their fifth home defeat of the season.

“We knew they were going to make a run. We held our composure, made some big shots, got some defensive stops when we needed to and that was the game right there,” Harden said.

Gerald Green added 15 points for Houston. Clint Capela chipped in 14, Ryan Anderson scored 13 and Chris Paul and P.J. Tucker scored 10 apiece for Houston, who led 54-38 at halftime.

In Detroit, Blake Griffin produced a double-double of 24 points and 10 rebounds in his debut for the Pistons, who held off the Memphis Grizzlies 104-102.

Griffin, who admitted he was shocked to be traded by the Los Angeles Clippers this week, got a warm welcome from the Detroit crowd in pre-game introductions.

He delivered the pass to Anthony Tolliver for a three-pointer that gave Detroit a 101-100 lead with 1:49 to play.

Two free-throws from Tolliver stretched the Pistons lead to 103-100 with six seconds left and Reggie Bullock sealed with a final free-throw.

Andre Drummond, who promises to form a formidable front-court duo with Griffin, finished with 14 points and 15 rebounds for the Pistons, who are ninth in the East and hoping the arrival of five-time All-Star Griffin can help propel them into playoff position.

“It was great to get a win,” said Griffin, adding that things will only improve as he gets more familiar with his new teammates.
“We came in off of one shoot around,” he noted. “We’ll keep getting better from here.”

The Minnesota Timberwolves won their 11th straight home game in Minneapolis - where those in attendance included New England Patriots coach Bill Belichick - taking a brief break before his team goes for a Super Bowl title against the Philadelphia Eagles on Sunday.

Jimmy Butler scored 28 points, rallying after missing four of his first five shots, and teammate Karl-Anthony Towns added a double-double of 24 points and 11 rebounds as the T’Wolves beat the Milwaukee Bucks 108-89.

The Bucks had won four straight since firing coach Jason Kidd 10 days ago. But the Timberwolves jumped to the lead, pushing the advantage to as many as 24 points in the wire-to-wire victory.

Khris Middleton led Milwaukee with 21 points and All-Star Giannis Antetokounmpo added 17 points and 15 rebounds for the Bucks, who have promoted assistant coach Joe Prunty to head-coaching duties for the rest of the season.