Mexico City: James Harden scored 23 points and Dwight Howard added 22 to lead the Houston Rockets over Minnesota 113-101 Wednesday in only the second NBA regular-season game played in Mexico City.
Harden passed out 10 assists and Howard pulled down 10 rebounds for the Rockets, who defeated Dallas in 1997 in the NBA’s only prior regular-season matchup in Mexico City.
The Timberwolves were supposed to have played the San Antonio Spurs last season in Mexico’s capital. But the game was called off after a generator malfunction sent smoke pouring into the arena, forcing an evacuation 45 minutes before the planned tip-off.
This time, 18,996 spectators watched as the Rockets improved to 7-1, matching Toronto and Memphis for the best record in the league, while the T-Wolves fell to 2-5.
The Rockets, who began the season with six wins in a row before losing Saturday to Golden State, have now defeated Minnesota in 21 of their past 27 meetings.
Trevor Ariza added 19 points for the Rockets, who also had 14 points off the bench from Greek forward Kostas Papanikolaou.
Corey Brewer scored 18 points off the bench to lead Minnesota, while Andrew Wiggins added 15 points and Montenegrin centre Nikola Pekovic contributed 11 points and 13 rebounds.
