An old cliché that has been used for centuries is, “Taking someone to the woodshed.” It’s an expression referred to the former practice of taking a naughty or disobedient child to the woodshed to be punished. On Thursday night the Toyota Center turned into the proverbial “Woodshed” as Houston (3-1) defeated San Antonio (0-3) by a score of 128-106 behind a brilliant performance by center Christian Wood.

“He had a little rust on him early and quickly shed that rust,” said head coach Stephen Silas. “It’ll be a day-by-day process for him getting back into shape. But he looked really good.”

Wood, 25, was acquired in the offseason by the Houston Rockets after signing a three-year $41 million free agent contract. He made his Rockets season debut on Thursday in the final preseason game for Houston after sitting out the first three games with an elbow injury. Wood made his presence felt early when he scored seven points and had five rebounds in the first quarter. He finished the game with a double-double (27 points-10 rebounds) in less than 24 minutes of action.

“It’s one game,” said Wood. “It’s preseason. But I left it all out there. I felt like I was playing hard. We just have to keep it up. I’m ready right now.”

Despite trade talks that had amplified earlier in the day, James Harden played in his second preseason game and is progressing towards being ready for the regular season. Harden went 8-for-14 from the floor scoring 20 points and added 9 assists with seven rebounds and took advantage of the athleticism of his new starting center even though at times there was miscommunications for lack of experience with each other.

“They hadn’t played together ever,” Silas said. “You would expect it to be a little shaky at first. Good basketball players have a way of helping each other play well. That’s one of the things that James does, and Christian was the beneficiary of that. They’re a work in progress, but it was a good start tonight.”

Houston opens up the NBA regular season against the Oklahoma City Thunder on December 23rd at Toyota Center.