HOUSTON (AP) - Dwight Howard scored 32 points and grabbed 16 rebounds as the Houston Rockets continued their dream start, beating the in-state rival San Antonio Spurs 98-81 on Thursday night.
Howard exploited a Spurs interior that was missing two key players, Tim Duncan and Tiago Splitter. Manu Ginobili also was held out of the game for rest a night after helping San Antonio to a 94-92 win over the Atlanta Hawks.
Howard and Houston took advantage, leading the game wire-to-wire on the way to a league-best 6-0 record. With the loss, the Spurs drop to 2-2.
James Harden had 20 points, six rebounds and six assists for the Rockets.
Cory Joseph led the Spurs with 18 points off the bench and Aron Baynes had 12 points and 11 rebounds.
TRAIL BLAZERS 108, MAVERICKS 87
PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) - LaMarcus Aldridge had 20 points and the Portland Trail Blazers led by as many as 27 points in routing the Dallas Mavericks.
Portland trailed 50-46 at the half but outscored the Mavericks 35-18 in the third quarter and Dallas couldn't catch up.
Damian Lillard added 18 points. Nicolas Batum had eight points, nine rebounds and nine assists, but sat for the fourth quarter after the Blazers had built a sizable lead. Batum has four career triple-doubles.
Dirk Nowitzki led the Mavericks with 17 points, 15 in the first half.