HOUSTON — Kevin Durant scored 25 points, Jabari Smith Jr. added 23 and the Houston Rockets snapped Atlanta’s 11-game winning streak with a 117-95 victory over the Hawks on Friday (Saturday in Manila).
Alperen Sengun had 15 points, 10 assists and nine rebounds for Houston, which was just 4-6 in its previous 10 games and was coming off back-to-back losses to the Los Angeles Lakers.
Nickeil Alexander-Walker led Atlanta with 21 points, but the Hawks shot just 42% from the field and 26% (9 for 35) from 3-point range. Houston shot 51% overall and 47% (14 of 30) from deep.
CJ McCollum had 17 points and Zaccharie Risacher had 16 for Atlanta, which was riding its longest winning streak in over a decade that had positioned the team for a play-in berth.
The Rockets outrebounded the Hawks 51-37.
The Rockets ked 62-54 at halftime then pulled away by outscoring the Hawks 39-22 in the third quarter.
Onyeka Okongwu had three assists including the 600th of his career. He is averaging 3.2 assists per game this season, the most of his career.
Meanwhile, Jalen Duren scored 23 points as the Detroit Pistons beat the Golden State Warriors 115-101 in a game missing two of the NBA’s biggest stars.
The Pistons beat the Warriors in the first matchup of the season between the teams on Jan. 30, but that was the last game Golden State’s Steph Curry (knee) has played this season. Now, Detroit’s Cade Cunningham (chest) has joined him for an extended absence.
Golden State’s injury situation got worse in the first half when Kristaps Porzingis left the game with lower back soreness.
Daniss Jenkins, starting for Cunningham, had 22 points, eight assists and seven rebounds for Detroit, which has won six of its last seven games. Paul Reed added 15 points for the Pistons, who won despite shooting 23.8% (5 for 21) on 3-pointers.
Golden State, which has lost seven of eight, turned the ball over 26 times, leading to 32 Pistons points. Brandin Podziemski had 15 points to lead Golden State.