ht over the Yankees that gave them a 61-61 record. TRAIN

HOUSTON - James Harden had 36 points to lead the depleted Houston Rockets to a 91-86 victory over the slumping New York Knicks on Monday night.Houston (11-3) played without centre Dwight Howard (knee) and point guard Patrick Beverley (hamstring), but Harden had half of the Rockets 14 3-pointers to overwhelm the Knicks, who played the second half without star forward Carmelo Anthony.Anthony left the game with less than two minutes remaining in the first half and did not return, suffering from back spasms, the team said. Anthony had 14 points.Jose Calderon and Travis Wear both had 9 points for the Knicks (4-11), who fell to 1-6 on the road and suffered their 10th loss in the last 12 games. Despite leaving so early in the game, Anthony led Knicks scorers, and none of his teammates scored double figures.Six other players scored at least 8 points, including five bench players.The Knicks made only two field goals in the final five minutes of the game.The Rockets won their 10th straight game against New York and their 19th consecutive game against the Eastern Conference at the Toyota Center, the longest active winning streak of a team against the opposing conference in the NBA.The Rockets led by double-digits for parts of the first half, but a 7-2 run at the end of the first half helped the Knicks cut Houstons lead to 51-46 at halftime.The Knicks defence tightened up in the third quarter, holding the Rockets to just 18 points and climbing to a 69-69 tie to enter the fourth quarter.In Anthonys absence, the bench rose to the occasion on the defensive end as Amare Stoudemire had three blocks and Shane Larkin added three steals.Tim Hardaway, Jr., hit a 3-pointer with eight minutes and 50 seconds remaining in the game to give the Knicks a 78-72 lead, but Hardens scoring in the final minutes of the game proved too much for New York.With Anthony in the locker room and Harden the games most dominant scorer, the Houston crowd chanted, MVP, MVP, MVP! in the closing minutes.____TIP-INSKnicks: Quincy Acy and Stoudemire both had eight rebounds, and New York outrebounded the undersized Rockets 40-38. . Despite the absence of two of Houstons big men, the Knicks were outscored 30-26 in the paint.Rockets: Howard missed his third straight game with the sprained knee. Beverley played Saturday in the victory over Dallas, scoring 20 points. Beverley has missed three games with the lingering hamstring injury. ... F Terrence Jones missed his 10th straight game with nerve damage in his left leg.UP NEXTNew York remains on the road, travelling to Dallas on Wednesday before visiting Oklahoma City on Friday.The Rockets on Wednesday host the Sacramento Kings, who have won three of their last four. Arizona Diamondbacks Jerseys . Even if he is shooting 38 per cent from the field overall this season, the Utah Jazz rookie always feels like his final shot is going in. Curt Schilling Jersey . Jackson Houck added a goal and two assists for the Giants (28-23-10), who halted a five-game slide, while Tyler Morrison, Mason Geertsen and Dominik Volek each scored once. Matt Bellerive scored both goals for the Blazers (12-43-5), who are 1-9-0 in their last 10 outings. http://www.diamondbacksapparelsshop.com/luis-gonzalez-jersey-c-18/ . Cincinnati has lost back-to-back games in overtime, wasting a chance to take a commanding lead in their division. Custom Arizona Diamondbacks Jerseys . Thats exactly what happened. And they enjoyed every moment. Durant remained sizzling with 33 points, Serge Ibaka added 22 and the Thunder roared back from an abysmal start -- they trailed 22-4 early -- to embarrass the Miami Heat 112-95 on Wednesday night, erasing that big deficit out of the gate by outscoring the two-time defending champions by 43 points over a 33-minute span. Zack Greinke Jersey .Chanathip Songkrasin opened the scoring in the sixth minute before Kroekrit found the target twice in the 57th and four minutes from fulltime.Vietnam and Malaysia play their second leg on Thursday. Vietnam won the first leg 2-1.ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. - Derek Jeter almost felt as if he were playing in the Bronx after getting a key late hit. Jeter had a tiebreaking single in the ninth inning and the New York Yankees ended a five-game skid with a 3-2 victory over the Tampa Bay Rays on Saturday. The announced crowd at Tropicana Field was 31,042, the Rays second home sellout this season. Tampa Bay entered with the major leagues lowest average home attendance of 17,848. "There are a lot of Yankees fans down here because spring training is here," Jeter said. "Seemed like quite a few were in the stands, so its almost like a home game." Jeter is retiring after this season and playing in his final weekend games at Tampa Bay. The Yankees do return for three weekday games in September. "Im not so sure Ive heard his name chanted that loud in an opposing stadium this year," Yankees manager Joe Girardi said. Brett Gardner opened the ninth with an infield single off Jake McGee (3-1) and advanced on a throwing error by second baseman Logan Forsythe. After failing to lay down a sacrifice bunt, Jeter put New York ahead with a single to right-centre on a 2-2 pitch. "This game is funny, you know," Girardi said. "It changes on a drop of a hat." Dellin Betances (5-0) worked a perfect eighth before David Robertson got three outs for his 32nd save. Rookie Shane Greene allowed two runs, seven hits and struck out a career-high 10 in six-plus innings. The Yankees took a lead in the second when Chase Headley drew a two-out walk on a full-count pitch and Martin Prado homered on an 0-2 offering from Drew Smyly, making his first home start since being acquired in a trade that sent ace David Price to Detroit on July 31. Smyly gave up two runs and four hits over seven innings. "Theyve got a really good lineup," Smyly said.dddddddddddd "They have good strike zone awareness. You just have to keep going right at them and making them swing." Price is scheduled to pitch against Tampa Bay for the first time Thursday in the finale of a three-game series in Florida. After Yunel Escobar had a sixth-inning RBI single, Tampa Bay tied it at 2 on Ben Zobrists run-scoring grounder in the seventh. The Rays extended their club-record streak of allowing three runs or fewer to 12 consecutive games, but have gone just 7-5 over the stretch. Tampa Bay had become the fourth team ever in the majors to get back to .500 after being at least 18 games under the break-even point with a 5-0 victory Friday night over the Yankees that gave them a 61-61 record. TRAINERSS ROOM Yankees: RHP Masahiro Tanaka (right elbow) threw 25 pitches during his first bullpen session since going on the DL July 9. C Brian McCann (concussion) might return Sunday. Rays: OF David DeJesus (left hand) went 0 for 1 with a walk in his first Gulf Coast League game. JETER METER The Yankees captain has 20 career game-winning RBI hits against the Rays, which is second most against Tampa Bay. Bostons David Ortiz tops the list with 26. BELTRAN BACK Yankees RF Carlos Beltran played defence for the first time since mid-May. After a DL stint that went into early June due to a right elbow bone spur, he had been limited to DH. Beltran said he will have surgery on the elbow after the season. ON THE MOVE Tampa Bay recalled INF Vince Belnome from Triple-A Durham and optioned reliever Brandon Gomes to the International League club. Belnome went 0 for 2 with a walk. UP NEXT Yankees RHP Hiroki Kuroda (7-8), 0-3 in his last four starts against Tampa Bay, and Rays RHP Jeremy Hellickson (1-1) are Sundays scheduled starters. ' ' '