Rockets 97, Spurs 90: Dwight Howard collected 23 points and 16 rebounds as Houston snapped a two-game slide by picking off visiting San Antonio.

Terrence Jones added 21 points and nine boards and Jeremy Lin scored 18 points while starting in place of James Harden (thumb) for the Rockets. Patrick Beverley added 11 points for Houston, which controlled the boards 55-39.

Tim Duncan scored 10 of his 12 points in the first half and added 14 rebounds and four blocks for the undermanned Spurs, who have dropped two straight while missing three starters. Boris Diaw recorded 22 points and 11 rebounds while Tony Parker scored 17 points for San Antonio.

Lin scored five straight points to give the Rockets an 81-70 cushion with 9:10 left before the Spurs crept back within 84-77 midway through the period. Marco Belinelli’s 3-pointer with 1:47 remaining cut it to 90-88 but Howard put back an offensive rebound and grabbed his own free-throw miss in front of Lin’s basket that stretched it back to a six-point edge with under a minute to play.

The Rockets shot 34.1 percent from the field in the first half and went into the break down 46-39 before turning things around in the third quarter. Lin began the onslaught with a 3-pointer and Houston scored on each of its first five possessions in the third - capped by Howard’s dunk off a feed from Lin - to grab a 50-48 lead before stretching it out to 72-64 heading into the fourth.

GAME NOTEBOOK: Harden sat with a bruised left thumb and is considered day-to-day. … Rockets F Chandler Parsons is 1-for-8 from 3-point range in the last two games after burying a record 10 in one half last Friday. … The Spurs went with a three-guard starting lineup, pairing Cory Joseph and Belinelli with Parker instead of inserting another forward into Kawhi Leonard’s vacated spot.