James Harden erupted for 50 points and Russell Westbrook bagged a triple-double, but it was not enough to stop the Houston Rockets falling to a double-overtime defeat to the San Antonio Spurs on Tuesday.
Three days after a 60-point display against Atlanta, Harden followed that masterclass with a half-century at the AT&T Center in San Antonio.
Yet it was the Spurs who edged a thrilling duel 135-133 after two periods of overtime.
Lonnie Walker IV was the star for the Spurs, rising from the bench to lead the scoring with 28 points and four rebounds.
Walker's intervention had helped San Antonio claw their way back into the game in the closing minutes of regulation.
The Rockets led by 10 points with just under four minutes on the clock but were reeled in by Walker, who hit back-to-back three-pointers to tie the score at 115-115 and force overtime.
Houston, however, were on the wrong end of a refereeing blunder earlier in the fourth quarter that turned out to be pivotal.
Harden broke away and took his time before dunking emphatically into an empty net. The points were ruled out, however, after officials mistakenly judged that the ball had bounced out of the basket.
Those lost points...
