Spurs 121, Rockets 103
SAN ANTONIO -- Forward LaMarcus Aldridge had 24 points and nine rebounds and guard Danny Green broke out of a shooting slump with six 3-pointers as the San Antonio Spurs rolled past the Houston Rockets 121-103 on Saturday night to stay unbeaten at home.
The Spurs (29-6) avenged one of their rare losses with the dominating win over their Texas rival, turning a close game in the third quarter into a rout with a 26-5 run.
Forward Kawhi Leonard added 23 points and played lockdown defense on Houston guard James Harden, holding one of the NBA's top scorers to one point in the second half.
The victory, which came against the last team to beat the Spurs (on Christmas night in Houston), was the 20th straight at home this season for San Antonio, allowing the Spurs to expand their best home start ever and extend their win streak in AT&T Center to 29 games dating to the final nine home games of 2014-15.
San Antonio is just the third Western Conference team in history to open a season 20-0 at home, joining Portland (which won its first 26 games in 1977-78) and Houston (20, 1985-86).
Reserve forward Boris Diaw added 20 points for the Spurs and reserve forward David West scored 10 points for San Antonio, which hit a season-high 13 3-pointers. Forward Tim Duncan was held scoreless in almost 14 minutes, the first time in his 1,598-game regular-season and playoff career that he failed to score.
Houston (16-19) lost for the fourth consecutive time. Center Dwight Howard led the Rockets with 22 points and 12 rebounds. Harden had 17 points, 16 of which came in the first half, and reserve forward Corey Brewer added 11 points and forward Trevor Ariza and guard Patrick Beverley had 10 apiece.
Green scored 12 of the Spurs' first 14 points -- and assisted on the other basket -- as San Antonio responded to Houston's early flurry and tied the score 14-14. Aldridge added eight points in the quarter to offset Harden's nine points for the Rockets as San Antonio, thanks to 57 percent shooting from the field, led 29-27 after 12 minutes.
Leonard scored 12 points in the second quarter as the Spurs pushed their lead to 60-55 at halftime. The quarter had four lead changes and eight ties, the last at 50-50, but San Antonio ended the half on a 10-5 run that featured two Leonard dunks.
Brewer's 3-pointer with 2.9 seconds to play ended a wild first half in which Houston outshot San Antonio 55 percent to 50 percent from the floor.
Harden led all scorers with 16 points in the half but also picked up his third foul with 53 seconds remaining.
Aldridge spent almost all of his time in the third quarter close to the basket and the move allowed him to have one of his most dominating games of the season. The Houston defender assigned to guard him, second-year player Clint Capela, had no answer for Aldridge's power moves and the Spurs' marquee offseason free-agent signee made the Rockets pay. San Antonio led 96-72 after three quarters.
NOTES: The Rockets beat the Spurs 88-84 in the first matchup between these teams earlier this season. San Antonio has won all three of its games since, while Houston has lost all of its three since Christmas night. ... The Spurs closed out December with a 14-2 record, their best mark in that month in franchise history and the best mark in the NBA for the month. ... Spurs G Tony Parker passed Scottie Pippen for 30th all-time in assists when he recorded seven Wednesday against Phoenix. ... Rockets C Dwight Howard is shooting 75.4 percent from the field in his last seven games after averaging 48.7 percent in the five games before his current surge. ... Rockets G James Harden scored 30 points in Houston's 114-10 loss to Golden State on Thursday. The Rockets have lost three of the last four games in which Harden has scored 30 or more points.