Capela's 27 pts leads Rockets' surpass Spurs

Clint Capela scored 27 points on 12-of-16 shooting and pulled down 12 rebounds in just three quarters as the visiting Houston Rockets rolled to a 136-105 win over the reeling San Antonio Spurs on Friday.

The Rockets, with point guard Chris Paul back in the lineup after sitting out three games with a hamstring injury, emphatically snapped a four-game losing streak, taking a 70-47 lead into halftime and never looking back.

It was the second straight blowout loss suffered by the Spurs, who were defeated 128-89 in Minnesota on Wednesday.

San Antonio has dropped five of its past seven games and eight of the 11 games it has played since beating the Rockets, also on the Spurs' home court, on Nov. 10. It's the first time since 1987 that the Spurs have lost consecutive games by 30 or more points.

Eric Gordon added 26 points for the Rockets, with James Harden recording 23 points and distributing 10 assists. Paul scored 14 points and had 10 assists, Gerald Green contributed 11, and PJ Tucker hit for 10 points for Houston.

LaMarcus Aldridge had 20 points to lead five San Antonio players in double-figures scoring. DeMar DeRozan added 18, Derrick White tallied 11, and Bryn Forbes and Marco Belinelli scored 10 points each for the Spurs.

Houston led by as many as 24 points in the first half as Gordon scored 17 points off the bench and Harden hit for 16 despite making just 1 of 7 from beyond the arc.

The Rockets outshot San Antonio 53 percent to 44 percent in the half, converting 10 of 25 of its 3-pointers, and had just one turnover prior to intermission.

Gordon had 14 of his points in the first quarter as the Rockets built a 39-23 lead after one. San Antonio missed its first four shots of the second quarter over the first two minutes to fall behind by 21 points before pulling to within 16 points twice in the period.

Gay and DeRozen led the Spurs with nine points each in the first half.

Houston pushed its lead to 110-74 by the end of the third quarter and called off the dogs in the final period as both teams went exclusively to its reserves with the game all but decided.

San Antonio is back in action on Sunday when it hosts Portland. The Rockets head home to face Chicago on Saturday.

(With inputs from agencies.)