Danny Green Shines As Spurs Shoot Down Rockets, 110-106

Danny Green had 24 points, including four important free throws, and a team-high five steals to lead the San Antonio Spurs in outlasting the Houston Rockets 110-106 on Sunday at AT&T Center. Tim Duncan had 16 points and Manu Ginobili had 15 for the Spurs (19-13), who missed the services of Tony Parker and Kawhi Leonard, to snap a six-game losing streak to the Rockets.

Donatas Motiejunas scored six points as the Rockets outscored the Spurs 11-3 in the final 1:07 of the opening quarter to take a 33-28 lead.The Rockets (21-8) pushed their lead to 45-35 early in the second quarter behind five points from Dwight Howard. But the Spurs answered with a 19-3 blast fueled by seven point from Green to take a 52-48 advantage with 2:24 left in the second. The Spurs led 56-55 at the half.
The game was close in the third with neither team scoring more than four points. Patty Mills scored all his eight points in the fourth, including six in a 15-0 blast, as the Spurs established a 102-91 lead with 4:22 left. The Rockets tried to rally and outscored the Spurs 12-4 to close in at 106-103 following a 3-pointer by Harden with 52 seconds left.

The Spurs' go-to-guy when protecting a small lead in the closing seconds, Manu Ginobili, realized he was shooting poorly in the free throw line and urged that Green be given the ball in the last 22 seconds. A career 85 percent free throw shooter, Ginobili entered the game with just 75.3 percent from the free throw line this season while Green was shooting 86 percent.
Green missed 25-foot three point jumper but was fouled by Rockets' newest addition, Josh Smith, and sank both free throws. A 3-pointer by Trevor Ariza got the Rockets even closer to within 108-106 with 12 seconds remaining. But Green sank two more free throws to douse the Rockets rally.

Howard had 24 points and 17 rebounds, Harden scored 28 and Corey Brewer added 25 points to lead the Rockets, which committed 25 turnovers, including eight in the final quarter. Smith sat out most of the final seven minutes due to his unfamiliarity with defensive assignments.