NBA Wrap: Houston Rockets star James Harden dunks all over San Antonio Aussie, Aron Baynes

SAN Antonio’s Aron Baynes was left red-faced as Houston’s Jame s Harden dunked all over the Aussie.

SAN Antonio’s Aron Baynes was left red-faced as Houston’s Jame s Harden dunked all over the Aussie.

Cairns native Aron Baynes went up for the block against Harden, only to fail miserably as the Rockets star fired up the 18,311 people at the Toyota Centre.

Baynes didn’t have a terrible game, scoring 12 points and 12 rebounds in his half-hour on court. Unfortunately for the Aussie, those positive stats won’t be what viewers remember.

The Harden dunk lit up social media in the aftermath.

Aron Baynes just made it onto a James Harden poster. 👌🚀👌🚀

— Houston Rockets (@HoustonRockets) November 7, 2014

In rural New Zealand, an old woman looks up from her knitting, pauses, then begins again. "Nana, what is it?" "Someone dunked on Baynes."

— Steve McPherson (@steventurous) November 7, 2014

Harden calls for cheers after dunk on Baynes. Gets them, especially from the boss (Leslie Alexander.)

— Jonathan Feigen (@Jonathan_Feigen) November 7, 2014

James Harden just dunked on Baynes family. #SAvsHOU #Rockets

— Robert Flores (@RoFloESPN) November 7, 2014

Baynes from the Spurs should just go ahead and retire after tonight 😂 he can never get his face back in the nba again

— Jamari D (@J_Debnam12) November 7, 2014

HOUSTON 98 — SAN ANTONIO 81

Houston Rockets centre Dwight Howard celebrates after the win.

Dwight Howard scored 32 points and grabbed 16 rebounds as the Houston Rockets continued their dream start, beating the instate rival San Antonio Spurs 98-81.

Howard exploited a Spurs interior that was missing two key players, Tim Duncan and Tiago Splitter. Manu Ginobili also was held out of the game for rest a night after helping San Antonio to a 94-92 win over the Atlanta Hawks.

Howard and Houston took advantage, leading the game wire-to-wire on the way to a league-best 6-0 record. With the loss, the Spurs drop to 2-2.

James Harden had 20 points, six rebounds and six assists for the Rockets.

Cory Joseph led the Spurs with 18 points off the bench.

Houston Rockets guard Francisco Garcia shoots around San Antonio’s Aaron Baynes.

With no Duncan or Splitter, who was nursing tightness in his right calf, Houston had a decided advantage down low and exploited it from the beginning, feeding Howard at every turn. Whether in the post, at the elbow, or on alley-oops passes, Howard was the target and had a double-double — 20 points and 12 rebounds — by half-time, as he exploited a vulnerable Spurs interior defence where Matt Bonner, Jeff Ayers, and Aron Baynes struggled to keep up.

As the Spurs struggled to keep Howard from gutting them in the middle, they had little consistency when they had the ball. The Spurs started the game sluggish, going the first six minutes without a score.

While San Antonio rebounded and pulled to within 18-15 at the end of the first quarter, that was as close as the Spurs would get. San Antonio shot just 34.4 per cent from the field and trailed by as many as 31.

PORTLAND 108 — DALLAS 87

Dallas Mavericks forward Dirk Nowitzki complains to referee Josh Tiven.

LaMarcus Aldridge had 20 points and the Portland Trail Blazers led by as many as 27 points on the way to a 108-87 rout of the Dallas Mavericks on Thursday night.

Portland trailed the Mavericks 50-46 at the half but outscored them 35-18 in the third quarter and Dallas couldn’t catch up. Damian Lillard added 18 points.

Portland Trail Blazers centre Chris Kaman scores against Dallas Mavericks forward Brandan Wright.

The game was delayed several minutes midway through the fourth quarter when a fan collapsed. The fan was rushed across the court by stretcher as a paramedic performed CPR. There were no immediate details about the person’s condition.

Nicolas Batum had eight points, nine rebounds and nine assists, but sat for the fourth quarter after the Blazers had built a sizeable lead. Batum has four career triple-doubles.

Dirk Nowitzki led the Mavericks with 17 points, but 15 came in the first half.

Originally published as NBA Wrap: Houston Rockets star James Harden dunks all over San Antonio Aussie, Aron Baynes