Rockets have little trouble handling Nets behind Harden

NEW YORK -- James Harden had 22 points, 11 rebounds and 11 assists in his 12th triple-double of the season and the Houston Rockets easily ended their first losing streak of the season by beating the Brooklyn Nets 137-112 on Sunday night.

Held to 105 points in losses to Minnesota and Memphis, the Rockets bounced back with 104 after three quarters and handed the Nets their 10th consecutive loss.

Eric Gordon led the Rockets with 24 points and Trevor Ariza added 23. Houston made 21 3-pointers and had five players with at least 16 points.

Trevor Booker scored 18 points for the Nets, who were still without Jeremy Lin (strained left hamstring) on the night they gave out his bobblehead and also rested Brook Lopez.

THUNDER 122, KINGS 118

SACRAMENTO, Calif. -- Russell Westbrook had 36 points, 11 rebounds and 10 assists for his 20th triple-double of the season and Oklahoma City beat Sacramento.

Westbrook had 19 triple-doubles last season. He entered averaging a triple-double and is trying to match Hall of Fame guard Oscar Robertson as the only NBA player to average a triple-double for a full season.

Enes Kanter had 29 points and 12 rebounds for the Thunder.

DeMarcus Cousins had 31 points, 11 rebounds and 7 assists for the Kings, who have lost two consecutive and five of six.

RAPTORS 116, KNICKS 101

TORONTO -- DeMar DeRozan had 23 points, Norman Powell added 21 and Toronto used a dominant third quarter to beat New York.

DeRozan also had five rebounds and five assists before coming out late in the third quarter. Toronto outscored New York 27-8 in the third to take a 96-62 lead.

The Raptors improved to 27-13, taking the lead for good late in the first quarter. They led by 38 points in the third in winning their third consecutive game overall and fifth in a row against the Knicks.

DeMarre Carroll added 20 points, and Jonas Valanciunas had 12 points and 16 rebounds.

Carmelo Anthony led the Knicks with 18 points, Justin Holiday had 17, and Derrick Rose added 16. The Knicks are 2-10 in their last 12 to drop to 18-23.

HAWKS 111, BUCKS 98

ATLANTA -- Kent Bazemore scored 24 points, Mike Dunleavy added 20 and Atlanta beat Milwaukee for its eighth victory in nine games.

Dunleavy, in his second game since arriving in a trade last week with Cleveland, had his first 20-point performance since a first-round playoff game for Chicago on April 30, 2015.

Giannis Antetokounmpo had 33 points for Milwaukee.

PISTONS 102, LAKERS 97

LOS ANGELES -- Tobias Harris scored 23 points and hit a decisive three-pointer with 30.5 seconds to play, and Detroit snapped a three-game losing streak with a victory over Los Angeles.

Marcus Morris scored 23 points and Andre Drummond had 15 points and 17 rebounds for the Pistons. They wrapped up their longest trip of the season by beating the Lakers at Staples Center for the first time in seven tries since Nov. 14, 2008.

Detroit barely hung on down the stretch of a back-and-forth game with the Lakers, who lost their fourth consecutive despite 26 points from Lou Williams.

MAVERICKS 98, TIMBERWOLVES 87

DALLAS -- Wesley Matthews scored 19 points and Dirk Nowitzki added 17 to help Dallas beat Minnesota.

J.J. Barea scored 15 points for Dallas, and Deron Williams had 13 points and 10 assists. Gorgui Dieng had 21 points, and Andrew Wiggins added 19 for the Timberwolves.

BULLS 108, GRIZZLIES 104

MEMPHIS -- Doug McDermott scored a career-high 31 points, Jimmy Butler had a pair of key baskets in the closing minute and Chicago beat Memphis.

The Bulls broke a 104-104 tie with 25 seconds left on a 15-footer from Butler and a pair of free throws by McDermott. Butler also had a go-ahead 18-footer with 53 seconds left and finished with 16 points to help Chicago win its second consecutive.

Sports on 01/16/2017

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