HOUSTON, Jan. 3 (Xinhua) -- The Houston Rockets throttled the Miami Heat 115-79 Saturday night at Toyota Center to claim their most lopsided victory this season.
The Rockets had a tight first quarter with the Heat, trailing by four points at the end of that quarter. Dwight Howard took over the second quarter, scoring 19 of his 23 points. Houston quickly erased the deficit and never trailed again for the remaining of the game.
The Rockets played even better in the third quarter and enlarged their advantage of 15 points by halftime to more than 30. Their aggressive defence allowed Miami to score only 11 points in the quarter.
With a deficit too huge to catch up, the game went into garbage time in the final period. The Rockets cruised to victory with all starters out.
James Harden led all players with 28 points. Four other players finished in double figures for Houston, including Josh Smith who came off the bench, scoring 12 points with seven rebounds.
Chris Bosh and Dwyane Wade dropped 15 points apiece while Luol Deng chipped in 10 points and six boards for the Heat. Miami has now lost four straight games while the Rockets improved to 23-10 with the win.