Albuquerque Journal

San Antonio crushes Phoenix

Rockets top Trail Blazers to end three-game skid

-

SAN ANTONIO, Texas — Bryn Forbes had a season-high 24 points and a career-best 11 rebounds as the San Antonio Spurs beat the Phoenix Suns 111-86 on Tuesday night.

San Antonio has won three straight halfway through a six-game homestand. The Spurs, who are allowing 113.3 points per game, have limited their opponents to 101 points during their winning streak.

LaMarcus Aldridge added 18 points in 25 minutes. He sat out the fourth quarter with San Antonio leading by as many as 25 points.

Phoenix, which was without leading scorer Devin Booker for the fifth straight game, never led while falling to 4-24.

T.J. Warren led the Suns with 23 points and De’Anthony Melton added 17. Rookie DeAndre Ayton was the only other Phoenix player in double figures, scoring 12 points on 6-for-10 shooting.

DeMar DeRozan was held to a seasonlow five points, but the 6-foot-7 guard attempted just six shots as he set up his teammates. DeRozan had eight of his nine assists in the first half, setting up six 3-point shots by drawing the defense into the lane on his drives.

San Antonio finished 13 for 21 on 3-pointers, falling one shy of matching its season-high for 3s.

Four of DeRozan’s assists in the first half were to Forbes.

An undrafted free agent out of Michigan State, Forbes matched a career high with five 3-pointers. ROCKETS 111, TRAIL BLAZERS 104: In Houston, James Harden had 29 points and seven Rockets scored in double-figures as Houston used a big second-half run and snapped a three-game losing streak with a victory over Portland.

Chris Paul added a triple double with 11 points, 11 rebounds and 10 assists. Clint Capela added 13 points and seven rebounds before fouling out with five minutes left, and Eric Gordon, who started in place of James Ennis, had 14 points for the Rockets, who shot 49 percent from the field.

Houston’s bench played a key role in a 24-6 first-half run that erased a 15-point deficit, and then led a charge in the second half. Gerald Green had 13 points, and Danuel House had 12 off the bench.

Damian Lillard had 34 points, CJ McCollum scored 22 points and Jusuf Nurkic added 15 points and 10 rebounds for Portland, which shot 44 percent after starting the game by making seven of its first nine shots.

Houston used a 25-5 run to end the third and start the fourth quarters, and opened a 100-83 lead on 3-pointer by Harden with 6:48 left.

Newspapers in English

Newspapers from United States