MEMPHIS, Tenn. -- The story of the Houston Rockets' 105-83 rout of the Memphis Grizzlies Saturday night before 17,266 at FedEx Forum was short and to the point.

Point guard, that is.

Chris Paul, playing in his second game after missing 14 games with a knee injury, used his 24 minutes efficiently with 17 points, four 3-pointers and six assists.

James Harden, meanwhile had 29 points and seven assists, shooting just 9 of 20 for the night, but 6 of 12 from beyond the arc for the Rockets, who won their seventh game in eight starts and are off to a Western Conference-best 13-4 start.

"We have everyone healthy now," Harden said. "We're more versatile, more active. We started playing harder and paying more attention to detail."

What impressed the Rockets' players more was the fact that, after the Grizzlies scored the first six points of the fourth quarter to close to 85-73 with 10:36 left to play, Houston held Memphis without a field goal for the next seven minutes, while blowing things open 100-78.

"We called a timeout and said 'This is enough', " Paul said. "but we've got to get to the point where that timeout doesn't have to happen."

The Grizzlies, meanwhile, will be without their point guard-lynchpin Mike Conley for at least two weeks as he tries to rest and rehab a sore Achilles that has hampered him most of the young season. His replacement, Mario Chalmers, only had six points to go with eight assists. Tyreke Evans, who has been averaging 18.5 points off the bench, came off a bout of flu and had just seven points backing up Chalmers, and the Grizzlies fell to 7-8 with their fourth straight loss.

"It's like I emphasize one thing really strong and something else goes sideways," said Grizzlies coach David Fizdale after his team shot just 26 percent from the field after the break. He said he has to take the lead and make sure "we're resilient, together and connected."

Clint Capela added 17 points and 13 rebounds as the Rockets got a split of their already-finished season series with division rival Memphis. Ryan Anderson also had 17 points while Eric Gordon chipped in 12.

Chandler Parsons, getting his first start of the season, led Memphis with 17 points, but only four came after the break. Marc Gasol, who scored 35 in a loss to Indiana Wednesday, had 15 points and nine rebounds while JaMychal Green added 15 in the for the Grizzlies.

On his team's problems, Gasol said, "There's a few of them. I don't think guys are being selfish intentionally, but definitely thinking too much ... We've got to get stops as a team. We've got to get good shots as a team. If we don't do that, it's a ripple effect that's hard to stop."

Paul had a dozen points in a dozen minutes, and was 3 of 4 on his three-pointers, while James Harden added 14 points as the Rockets built up a 51-34 lead midway through the second quarter.

The Grizzlies went on a 15-0 run, sparked by three of Parsons' points and a pair of Green threes to close to 51-49. But Houston scored eight of the final 10 points of the half, six by Gordon, to make it 59-50 at the half. Memphis never got closer than nine in the final 24 minutes.

"Because everybody is back and everybody is out of their normal rotation, it takes us awhile sometimes to get back in gear at the start of a quarter," Rockets coach Mike D'Antoni said. "The Grizzlies are going to make some runs, but we held them to 33 in the second half. ... We all know that the only way we're going to go far in the playoffs is defensively, you've got to be a bear. Tonight we were. I think everybody knows the formula now if we can just continue with what we're doing."

NOTES: Rockets G Chris Paul had his minutes doled out in five-minute chunks by coach Mike D'Antoni. "It works out well," D'Antoni said, "because that's all the wind he's got right now." ... Grizzlies C Marc Gasol made franchise history in Wednesday's home loss to Indiana with 35 points, 13 rebounds, five assists and a season-best five blocks. It's the first 35-10-5-5 game in team history. "This is Marc's time and you're going to see him step up," said Grizzlies coach David Fizdale. .... Fizdale inserted F Chandler Parsons to spark a struggling starting five. "When you lose Mike (Conley) it's a huge void and it takes a few games to figure out how to patch that up," Fizdale said. "Chandler has been playing at a great level and I think he can help that (starting) group." ... Memphis backup C Brandan Wright left the game midway through the second quarter with a right groin injury and did not return.