NBA-Spurs ground Rockets to stay unbeaten in San Antonio

Jan 2 (The Sports Xchange) - LaMarcus Aldridge had 24 points and nine rebounds, and Danny Green broke out of a shooting slump with six three-pointers as the San Antonio Spurs rolled past the Houston Rockets 121-103 to stay unbeaten at home on Saturday. The Spurs (29-6) avenged one of their rare losses, a Christmas Day defeat in Houston, 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 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 in 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 three-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), who lost for the fourth consecutive time, were led by Dwight Howard 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. 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. San Antonio pulled out to a 96-72 lead after three quarters and were never threatened in the fourth. (Editing by John O'Brien)