Join now and get your first month for just $1.<\/a><\/p>\nBut the Rockets avenged that loss with a hard-fought victory as the Western Conference rivals faced off again in Denver.<\/p>\n
Durant delivered a talismanic performance which included five three-pointers, while Reed Sheppard came off the bench to score 28 points after making six-of-nine from outside the arc.<\/p>\n
Durant was involved in an angry exchange with Denver\u2019s Bruce Brown late in the third quarter which saw both players separated by team-mates.<\/p>\n
Brown later refused to elaborate on what had happened between him and Durant. <\/p>\n
\u201cSome words were said that were a little bit disrespectful,\u201d Brown said. <\/p>\n
\u201cI can\u2019t wait to see him next time. There are certain things you don\u2019t say to another man.\u201d <\/p>\n
Durant appeared nonplussed by the spat, while admitting that he had deliberately taken a combative approach into the game.<\/p>\n
\u201cI definitely wanted to cross the line tonight,\u201d Durant said. <\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s basketball… it\u2019s part of the game. Some people can talk and play. Some people can\u2019t. I had to learn how to talk and play as a player.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think Bruce is probably learning the same thing.\u201d <\/p>\n
It came in a game Nuggets coach David Adelman got ejected for losing it at the refs in the fourth quarter while Nikola Jokic was getting double-teamed on a play.<\/p>\n
Houston improved to 17-8 with the win to remain fifth in the Western Conference, while Denver is third in the table at 20-7.<\/p>\n
The Rockets are now 2-1 in the regular season series matchup between the two West contenders, with one more battle scheduled in March.<\/p>\n
GRIZZLIES, LANDALE CRASH BACK DOWN TO EARTH IN SHOCK LOSS<\/p>\n
From beating the Minnesota Timberwolves, to losing to the Washington Wizards.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s the Memphis Grizzlies\u2019 reality after a horror second half fade-out loss to the NBA-worst Washington 130-122 in a game Memphis led by as much as 2o.<\/p>\n
It came just days after one of the Grizzlies\u2019 biggest wins of the season when Tuomas Iisalo\u2019s side upset Minnesota on the road in a game Aussie Jack Landale shined.<\/p>\n
But Landale came crashing back down to earth with five points on 2-of-10 shooting and seven rebounds on Sunday and Washington won its first game in Memphis since January 2018.<\/p>\n
Trailing by 15 at half-time, the Wizards dominated the second half 77-54 including a 42-27 third quarter blitz.<\/p>\n
Kyshawn George and CJ McCollum scored 28 apiece in the shock upset and Washington improved to 5-21 on the season.<\/p>\n
For Memphis, Santi Aldama scored a career-high 37 points with 10 rebounds off the bench s and Jaren Jackson Jr. added 22 points. <\/p>\n
But Jackson fouled out in the dying minutes and the Grizzlies, still missing Ja Morant and Zach Edey, fell to 13-15 after winning nine of its previous 12 contests.<\/p>\n
Next up, the Griz visit OKC on Tuesday for a tough matchup with the NBA-best 25-3 Thunder, who are coming off a rare loss to Minnesota.<\/p>\n
ELSEWHERE …<\/p>\n
In Toronto, Payton Pritchard\u2019s 33 points helped the Boston Celtics to a 112-96 defeat of the Raptors.<\/p>\n
Pritchard added eight rebounds and 10 assists while five other Boston players finished in double figures as the Celtics improved to 17-11.<\/p>\n
In Philadelphia, number one draft pick Cooper Flagg and Anthony Davis scored 24 points apiece but it was not enough to prevent the Dallas Mavericks from slipping to a 121-114 loss to the 76ers, who were inspired by a 38-point salvo from Tyrese Maxey.<\/p>\n
ALL SCORES<\/p>\n
Rockets 115 Nuggets 101<\/p>\n
Mavericks 114 76ers 121<\/p>\n
Celtics 112 Raptors 96<\/p>\n
Pacers 109 Pelicans 128<\/p>\n
Hornets 86 Pistons 112<\/p>\n
Wizards 130 Grizzlies 122<\/p>\n
Suns 116 Warriors 119<\/p>\n
Magic – Jazz<\/p>\n
Trail Blazers – Kings<\/p>\n
Lakers – Clippers<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Kevin Durant scored 31 points as the Houston Rockets bounced back from a controversial overtime loss to beat…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":361843,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[557],"tags":[2095,197110,16107,64,63,684,483,1664,2065,3912,197113,197112,7235,3896,3897,1662,800,25968,197111,7220,67416,183050,7216,486,733,5851,5665,590,3906,2041,2067,3797,12274,5136,9195,197108,197109,85,973,3920,2614,7211,138792],"class_list":{"0":"post-361842","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nba","8":"tag-america","9":"tag-angry-exchange","10":"tag-anthony-davis","11":"tag-au","12":"tag-australia","13":"tag-ben-cotton","14":"tag-boston","15":"tag-boston-celtics","16":"tag-canada","17":"tag-colorado","18":"tag-combative-approach","19":"tag-controversial-overtime-loss","20":"tag-dallas-mavericks","21":"tag-david-adelman","22":"tag-denver","23":"tag-denver-nuggets","24":"tag-espn-inc","25":"tag-fade-out-loss","26":"tag-houston-coach","27":"tag-houston-rockets","28":"tag-ime-udoka","29":"tag-jaren-jackson","30":"tag-kevin-durant","31":"tag-massachusetts","32":"tag-memphis","33":"tag-memphis-grizzlies","34":"tag-minnesota-timberwolves","35":"tag-nba","36":"tag-nikola-jokic","37":"tag-north-america","38":"tag-northern-america","39":"tag-ontario","40":"tag-pennsylvania","41":"tag-philadelphia","42":"tag-quarter-blitz","43":"tag-rare-loss","44":"tag-rival-contender","45":"tag-sports","46":"tag-tennessee","47":"tag-toronto","48":"tag-united-states-of-america","49":"tag-washington-wizards","50":"tag-worst-team"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/361842","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=361842"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/361842\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/361843"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=361842"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=361842"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=361842"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![](\"https:\/\/content.foxsports.com.au\/fs\/electrode\/poster-fallback.png\"\/)
<\/p>\n