SAN ANTONIO -- The Houston Rockets gave away a 23-point lead, Dwight Howard was being fouled intentionally and the disdain of the San Antonio Spurs sellout crowd was roaring down on them in the final minutes of the game. [url=http://www.hockeyavalanche.com/authentic-rene-robert-avalanche-jers ey/]Rene

SAN ANTONIO -- The Houston Rockets gave away a 23-point lead, Dwight Howard was being fouled intentionally and the disdain of the San Antonio Spurs sellout crowd was roaring down on them in the final minutes of the game. Rene Robert Avalanche Jersey . It was a tense situation that Houston would have folded under last season, James Harden readily admits. The Rockets demonstrated Saturday night that they are a different team this season, even if it is early. Harden scored 31 points, Chandler Parsons had 25, and Houston overcame a furious second-half rally to beat San Antonio 112-106, handing the Spurs their first home defeat. "Its a great win for us," Harden said. "Last year we probably would have caved in; they would have beaten us by a lot. So, this year the improvement weve adjusted to has been tremendous. A back-to-back in San Antonio is always tough, but we showed resiliency and pulled out a great win." Harden had 16 points in the final quarter, going 4 for 8 from the field and 7 for 10 on free throws in leading Houston (13-5) to its fifth straight victory. Howard had 13 points and 11 rebounds, Terrence Jones added 10 points and 16 boards, and Patrick Beverly scored 11 points. Tony Parker had 27 points, Tim Duncan added 20 and Marco Belinelli scored 18 for San Antonio (14-3), which has lost two of three. San Antonio outscored Houston 39-26 to open the second half, with Belinelli scoring 13 points after halftime to set up a furious finish. Harden hit a high-arcing, off-balance 3-pointer to tie the game at 106 with a minute remaining. "That was the shot of the game," Spurs coach Gregg Popovich said. Parker then missed a driving layup over Howard, and Beverly tipped in Hardens miss to put Houston up 108-106 with 32 seconds remaining. Manu Ginobili missed a 3-pointer, enabling Houston to outlet to Parsons for a dunk and a 110-106 lead with 16 seconds left to seal a victory over its longtime state rival. "Its going to be a dogfight every time we see these guys," Howard said. "And thats what we want. Thats going to make us better as a team, and its going to make it fun for the fans to watch." San Antonio finished 9 for 26 on 3s, including 2 for 9 in the first half. Without the Spurs usual crisp ball movement, Parker was forced to take the offence into his own hands, going 13 for 27 from the field. "Definitely," Harden said. "If you get Tony Parker to put a lot of shots up, it takes away from all their guys knocking down 3s and getting us off balance." The Rockets responded to a late first-half spurt by the Spurs by opening the second half on a 13-2 run that Parsons and Harden opened and closed with 3-pointers. The run appeared to fire up Duncan, who scored seven of the Spurs 13 points in one stretch, including an alley-oop-dunk in front of Howard. The Spurs were energized by their stoic leader showing some fire, closing within 81-80 with 2 minutes left in the third quarter. "They battled back," Rockets coach Kevin McHale said. "It got scrappy and dirty, and they got really physical with us. They got a little lead, and our guys made some big plays and battled back down the stretch." Belinelli hit consecutive 3s to give San Antonio an 85-83 lead early in the final quarter, its first since going up 12-11 with 6:34 left in the first. He added another 3 to give the Spurs an 88-83 advantage. "Its a great lesson for us," Popovich said. "When you play a good basketball team, youve got to come with passion, an edge and aggressiveness for 48 minutes - and we did that for a half. (The Spurs) got embarrassed for a whole half. In the second half, their aggressiveness and attention to detail was very good. They got themselves back in the game." San Antonio shot 80 per cent in the opening minutes compared to 28 per cent by Houston, but the Rockets were able to stay within a basket until their offence began flowing. Early in the game Howard ran isolation plays against Duncan, performing the "Dream Shake" taught to him in the off-season by Rockets legend Hakeem Olajuwon on one possession to set up a short hook in the lane. "On every team that Dwights on it seems that focus is inside and the shooters get a lot more open looks," Duncan said. "Thats a byproduct of having him in there and the shooters shooting the ball well obviously. Its tough. They are tough and well see what happens next time." NOTES: Houston G Jeremy Lin and F Greg Smith both missed the game with sprained right knees. It was the second straight game Lin has missed. . A scene from the 2004 movie "The Alamo" was shown during the first quarter, making the Spurs the defenders of the Alamo and Texas, and the Rockets as the invading army. . "Lets go Rockets!" chants broke out during the game. ... Popovich was assessed a technical foul after screaming at official Tom Washington for allowing McHale to stand within a foot of Duncan as he attempted to inbound the ball on the final play of the first half. After stepping in front of Duncan several times to prevent Washington from handing him the ball while he argued a non-call, McHale stood an arms length beside the Spurs forward as he threw the ball three-quarters of the court to Ginobili. "I was in the coachs box," McHale said. "I probably shouldve gone and sat my big (butt) on the other side." Matt Nieto Avalanche Jersey . Last year, Islanders forward Colin Mcdonald released a "Do It For Colin" campaign to promote his teammate and friend John Tavares for the EA sports honour:The most popular sports voting video ever has to go to Chris Bosh who showcased his comedic abilities in his effort to get fans to vote him into the 2008 All Star Game:You can vote for TJ and other star players for the NHL 15 cover vote here. Paul Kariya Avalanche Jersey .A. remained bitter for Henrik Lundqvist and the Rangers on the long flight back home to New York. http://www.hockeyavalanche.com/authentic-rob-ramage-avalanche-jersey/ .C. -- Carter Ashton had a pair of goals and added an assist as the Toronto Marlies downed the Charlotte Checkers 5-2 on Saturday in the American Hockey League.Dan Carter is hoping to be fit for Racing 92s Top 14 play-off against Toulouse on Saturday, live on Sky Sports. The New Zealand legend has been missing from the pitch since limping out of the European Champions Cup final three weeks ago with a calf problem.Carter has been resting ever since and missed Racings final three regular season league matches, including last weekends 40-25 victory over Montpellier that secured a home play-off tie. The 34-year-old returned to training just before the Montpellier clash but trained alone. He is likely to be called upon this weekend where he should line up opposite compatriot and fellow All Black international Luke McAlister.Racing come up against a Toulouse side in fine form and on a six-match winning run, during which time they beat the top two - Clermont and Toulon - as well as Racing. Only Toulon scored more tries during the regular season than Toulouse.McAlister was rested against Grenoble last weekend when a youthful Toulouse romped to a crushing 53-14 victory.These two sides have met twice before at this stage of the competition, in 2013 and 2014, both times at Toulouses ground with honours even.Its not just Carter that Racing are hoping to get back for the Toulouse visit, but also his fellow Kiwis, No 8 Chris Masoe and centre Casey Laulala, as well as France prop Edy Ban Arous.Racing are aiming to finish their season on a high following the disappointment of losing the European final to Saracens.They were criticised last week for not pushing for the attacking bonus in their win over Montpellier - a result that would have seen them take second place ahead of Toulon and earn a bye this weekend.But scrum-half Maxime Machenaud said after that match that they were fully concentrated on the job ahead.We have three more matches to be champions. But theres no euphoria because we know whats waiting for us (this) weekend against Toulouse, a massive team, he said.There are six huge teams left for one place (champions), but first of all were gooing after a semi-final place. Anton Lindholm Jersey. RegretsToulouse have some regrets about finishing fifth in the regular season, with coach Jean-Baptiste Elissalde believing they should have finished higher.We could have out-dipped everyone on the line in this league. We deserved to be one or two places higher, said Elissalde, who added that the trip to Racing was not mission impossible. Jannie du Plessis (l), Francois Steyn (c) and Bismarck du Plessis of Montpellier celebrate after beating Harlequins in the 2016 Challenge Cup Final On Sunday, Montpellier and Castres meet for the fifth time in six years in the play-offs.Montpellier won 18-17 at Castres in 2011 but then lost to the same opponents in the next three years in a row before neither side made it into the top six last season. Weve been playing them (in the play-offs) for several years now, this time were at home, said Montpellier scrum-half Benoit Paillaugue about the Castres match.Were going to have to play the perfect match because weve got the taste of something fabulous and we want to taste it again.Paillaugue was referring to Montpelliers European Challenge Cup victory over Harlequins three weeks ago, the clubs first ever major trophy.Castres, the 2013 champions, needed a late charge to pip Bordeaux-Begles to sixth place. They won their last three games while Bordeaux lost two of theirs.The aim was the top six, the season is long and weve been through every emotion but... we can be proud and satisfied that weve achieved this objective, said Castres centre Remi Lamerat. Also See: Armitage opts for Pau Goromaru signs for Toulon Follow @SkySportsRugby Fixtures and results ' ' '