Rockets win 1st game post-trade
Christian Wood had 27 points and 15 rebounds and the Houston Rockets rallied to beat the San Antonio Spurs 109-105 on Thursday night in their first game since trading franchise cornerstone James Harden.
Sterling Brown, who took Harden’s spot in the starting lineup, had 23 points, seven rebounds and three assists in 36 minutes.
Spurs forward Keldon Johnson had a career-high 29 points, and Lonnie Walker IV added 16 points,
Houston was playing its first game since sending Harden to the Brooklyn Nets in a four-team blockbuster trade Wednesday. Victor Oladipo, Dante Exum and Rodions Kurucs, who the Rockets acquired along with numerous draft picks and draft swaps for Harden, are not with the team yet. The Rockets were also without John Wall and Eric Gordon due to injuries. The upheaval led to more minutes for the remaining roster, and they took advantage of it.
The teams will meet again Saturday in San Antonio.
76ers 125, Heat 108 — Ben Simmons called trade rumors part of the NBA. With another triple-double, he showed why he’s coveted around the league — and needed in Philly.
Simmons had 10 points, 10 assists and 12 rebounds and Shake Milton returned from COVID-related issues and scored 31 points and lead the Philadelphia 76ers to a win over the Miami Heat.
“There’s far worse things going on in the world,” Simmons said of recent trade talk. “If you tell me I’ll never play the game again, that would be a different story.”
The Sixers swept the twogame home set against a Heat team that continues to play with a depleted roster because of issues related to the virus outbreak. Jimmy Butler, Bam Adebayo and
Goran Dragic sat out, and the Heat were roughed up early by Milton, Tyrese Maxey and Tobias Harris.
Consider, the 76ers led 7358 at the break — with only nine combined points from All-Stars Joel Embiid and Simmons. Embiid has emerged early as one of the top players in the NBA, and a 45-point, 16-rebound game Tuesday against the Heat was one of his best. He had only nine points on Thursday, but was barely needed.
Duncan Robinson led the Heat with 22 points and Gabe Vincent had 21.
Raptors 111, Hornets 108 — Chris Boucher had 25 points and 10 rebounds, Kyle Lowry had 16 points and 12 assists, and the Toronto Raptors beat the Charlotte Hornets.
Pascal Siakam added 15 points and seven rebounds as Toronto ended a twogame skid and improved to 3-8.
“I’m just trying to figure out a way to get us going,”
said Boucher, who is averaging 20.8 points and 8.5 rebounds in the last four games, all in a reserve role. “Playing defense and bringing energy is what you’re there for. It’s pretty much what I do.”
“As good as the numbers look, there’s a lot of room for improvement,” Raptors coach Nick Nurse said. “He’s really close to being a really solid defensive player.”
Terry Rozier led the Hornets with 22 points and P.J. Washington had 20 points and 11 rebounds. LaMelo Ball had 14 points and 11 assists as Charlotte played without leading scorer Gordon Heyward, who strained his left hip in Wednesday night’s 104-93 loss to Dallas that ended a four-game winning streak. Fred Van Fleet’s 3-pointer with 1:52 left in the first quarter launched a 34-11 Toronto run over the next 8 1/2 minutes that put the Raptors ahead to stay.