James Harden scored 33 points, while Dwight Howard added 29 points and 13 rebounds as the Houston Rockets beat the Portland Trail Blazers 116-101 on Tuesday.
Jeremy Lin and Patrick Beverley each added 12 points for the Rockets (4-1).
Damian Lillard scored 22 points and LaMarcus Aldridge added 21 to lead the Blazers, who fell after winning two in a row. Wesley Matthews added 19 points.
Photo: AFP
Playing for the fourth time in five nights, the Rockets bounced back from getting clobbered by the Los Angeles Clippers 137-118 on Monday night in Howard’s first trip back to the Staples Center since leaving the Los Angeles Lakers during the summer.
The seven-time All-Star has teamed up with Harden to give Houston one of the most talented duos in the NBA.
Harden, who averaged 25.9 points last season, recovered from a poor shooting performance against the Clippers, hitting 11 of 18 from the field and nine of 10 from the free-throw line.
Howard was dominant under the basket, as Houston outscored Portland 54-28 in the paint and outrebounded the Blazers 47-30.
With center Robin Lopez sitting in foul trouble and his backup Joel Freeland out with a hip injury, the Blazers could not defend the rim.
The Blazers shot better than 55 percent and had six players score in double figures in a 115-105 victory over the San Antonio Spurs on Saturday, but shot only 41 percent from the field on Tuesday and 65 percent from the line.
Houston led 55-50 at the half and then went on a 15-2 run to start the second half.
The Rockets led by as many as 18 points before Portland started chipping away at the lead, getting within 93-88 on a jumper by Mo Williams. However, Beverley hit a three-pointer and Harden converted a three-point play to push the lead back to double figures.
Portland started the game strong and led 19-10, before the Rockets put together a 19-4 run, with Howard and Harden each contributing eight straight points.
In Toronto, Miami’s LeBron James scored a season-high 35 points to lead the Heat to a 104-95 win over the Toronto Raptors and joined an exclusive club by passing yet another personal milestone.
James also had a season-high eight rebounds and eight assists as Miami topped 100 points for the fifth straight game, extending their team-record run to begin the season.
Early in the game, James became the fifth player in NBA history to score 10 points or more in 500 consecutive games.
A four-time Most Valuable Player, James joined Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (with streaks of 787 and 508 games), Michael Jordan (866), Karl Malone (575) and Moses Malone (526) as the only players to accomplish the feat.
Dwyane Wade had 20 points and Ray Allen had 14 for the Heat.
Tuesday’s other results:
‧ Pacers 99, Pistons 91
‧ Mavericks 123, Lakers 104
‧ Bobcats 102, Knicks 97
‧ Nets 104, Jazz 88
‧ Suns 104, Pelicans 98
‧ Spurs 102, Nuggets 94
‧ Hawks 105, Kings 100
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