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 straight 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.
Houston shot just 40.8 percent during its two losses, well below its 46.8 season average, while being held nearly 10 points below its scoring average. But the Rockets had no trouble bouncing back against the Nets, who allow an NBA-worst 114.3 per game.
RAPTORS 116, KNICKS 101: DeMar DeRozan had 23 points, Norman Powell added 21 and Toronto used a dominant third quarter to beat New York in Toronto.
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 straight 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.
HAWKS 111, BUCKS 98: Kent Bazemore scored 24 points, Mike Dunleavy added 20 and host Atlanta beat Milwaukee.
Giannis Antetokounmpo finished with 33 points and was a tough matchup in the paint for Milwaukee, which dropped 21/2 games behind the fourth-place Hawks in the Eastern Conference.
Atlanta has won eight of nine. The Bucks have dropped three of five.
Dunleavy had his first 20-point performance since a first-round playoff game for Chicago on April 30, 2015.
MAVERICKS 98, TIMBERWOLVES 87: Wesley Matthews scored 19 points and Dirk Nowitzki added 17 as Dallas won at home.
J.J. Barea scored 15 points for Dallas, and Deron Williams had 13 points and 10 assists.
Gorgui Dieng scored 21 points and Andrew Wiggins had 19 for the Timberwolves, who had their three-game winning streak snapped.
Dallas broke open a two-point game by closing the third quarter on an 11-4 run, then Barea scored his team’s first nine points of the fourth quarter. His bank shot in the lane with 8:01 to go extended the Mavs’ lead to 88-76.
Seth Curry then scored the next five points with a 3 and a fast-break layup to give Dallas its largest lead.
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