After coming out cold on Tuesday, Dwight Howard warmed up in the second half and the NBA's Houston Rockets iced the San Antonio Spurs.
Howard scored 18 of his 23 points after the intermission with 16 rebounds, rallying the Rockets past the injury-depleted Spurs 97-90.
Terrence Jones netted 21 points while Jeremy Lin had 18 with eight assists for the Rockets (30-17) who, despite playing without injured leading scorer James Harden, improved to 3-0 against the Spurs and took the season series for the first time since 1996-97.
"Without our best scorer, to beat a team like that is impressive," said Rockets forward Chandler Parsons.
Boris Diaw had a season-high 22 points with 11 rebounds, while fellow Frenchman Tony Parker scored 17 for the Spurs, who blew an early 15-point lead and dropped consecutive games for the first time this season.
Without starters Danny Green, Kawhi Leonard and Brazil's Tiago Splitter, San Antonio lost Argentine Manu Ginobili in the third quarter to injury.
"It's a frustrating time right now losing games like we're losing them and losing people," said Spurs forward Tim Duncan after a 12-point, 14-rebound effort.
Trailing by 11, the Spurs pulled to within 90-88 on Marco Belinelli's jumper with 1:47 left but the Rockets responded.
Howard had a put-back dunk, Lin banked in a jumper with 38 seconds left to make it a six-point game and the Rockets held on to stop a two-game slide.
Elsewhere, David West led six players in double figures with 19 points, Lance Stephenson had 15 with 14 rebounds, and the league-best Indiana Pacers (35-9) finished their road trip 3-2 after beating the skidding LA Lakers 104-92.
Spain's Pau Gasol had 21 points and 13 rebounds for the Lakers, losers of five in a row and 17 of their past 20.
Bradley Beal scored 18 of his 20 points in the second half, and John Wall had 15, including the tie-breaking triple with 1:28 left as the visiting Washington Wizards surprised the Golden State Warriors 88-85.
Stephen Curry topped the Warriors with 23 points but missed a game-tying three-pointer as time expired.
Memphis Grizzlies downed Portland Trail Blazers 98-81, New Orleans Pelicans beat Cleveland Cavaliers 100-89, New York Knicks were easy 114-88 winners over Boston Celtics, and Detroit Pistons scored a 103-87 victory over Orlando Magic.
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