Houston's first game without James Harden went better than anyone could have expected. Christian Wood had 27 points and 15 rebounds, and the Rockets rallied to beat the San Antonio Spurs 109-105 on Thursday night in their first game since trading away the franchise cornerstone. Sterling Brown, who took Harden's spot in the starting lineup, had 23 points, seven rebounds and three assists in 36 minutes.
The Spurs finally returned to the AT&T Center on Thursday after a successful 4-1 road trip saw them knock off both Los Angeles title contenders. Unfortunately, the familiar confines of home didn’t seem to bring the good guys much comfort as they dropped a close contest to the shorthanded Rockets. Keldon Johnson paced both teams in scoring, notching a career-high 29 points on 12-of-16 shooting from the field.
The Spurs didn’t have anything like spite in their arsenal last night. The Spurs were, oddly enough, looking pretty satisfied for the moment. They’d just completed a tidy little road trip and logged some decent wins.
W | L | Pct | GB | |
---|---|---|---|---|
6 | 4 | .600 | 0.0 | |
6 | 6 | .500 | 1.0 | |
5 | 6 | .455 | 1.5 | |
4 | 6 | .400 | 2.0 | |
4 | 6 | .400 | 2.0 |