The Rockets looked jet lagged from the time spent in Japan playing two preseason games against the reigning NBA Champions, Toronto Raptors. They lost to the San Antonio Spurs 128 – 114 in their final preseason game at home. Houston (3-2) will open up the 2019-20 NBA season against the Milwaukee Bucks next Thursday.

James Harden was in mid-season form with 40 points, 10 rebounds, and seven assists in a game high 34 minutes. Houston also threw in a wrinkle at the beginning of the game by starting forward Danuel House Jr. over Eric Gordon.

“I’ve come a long way compared to last year and where I started at,” said House Jr. who finished the game with 7 points. “So, I can’t and won’t complain about being in the starting lineup.”

San Antonio (1-3) picked up their first win of the preseason by shooting 57% from floor. Lofty veteran LaMarcus Aldridge scored 22 points and point guard Dejounte Murray who is looking to make a comeback after suffering a torn right anterior cruciate ligament in the preseason last year against the Rockets chipped in with 20.

“I thought DJ (Dejounte Murray) did a good job at the point,” Spurs head coach Greg Popovich said.

Houston was down by 14 at the half but made a run in the second half to get within 10 in the third quarter before the Spurs pulled away for the win. The only bright spot for Houston late in the game was rookie guard Chris Clemons who scored 13 points in 12 minutes on 5-of-10 shooting. He is third on the team in scoring in the preseason with 13.2 points per game and has hit 15 three-pointers.

“We just give him the freedom to hoop and he does an unbelievable job on both ends of the floor,” said Harden.

The Rockets will hit the road headed to take on the Miami Heat to finish their preseason schedule on Friday.