Smith scores 21 points in debut with Rockets

NBA: James Harden had 32 points and 10 assists, Josh Smith scored 21 points in his Rockets debut, and Houston beat Memphis 117-111 in overtime Friday at Memphis, Tennessee.

The Rockets took over the top spot in the Western Conference’s Southwest Division.

Dwight Howard had only six points, but connected on all four of his free throws in overtime. He grabbed 11 rebounds.

Marc Gasol led Memphis with 29 points, while Beno Udrih contributed 17.

• Jack carries Nets past Celtics: Jarrett Jack nailed a tiebreaking jumper in the lane with 28 seconds to play and finished with 27 points, lifting visiting Brooklyn to a 109-107 win over Boston.

The Nets won their third straight and improved to 12-2 against sub-.500 teams.

Jeff Green had 22 points and Jared Sullinger had 19 with eight rebounds for Boston, which lost its third in a row.

• Monroe, Drummond lead Pistons over Pacers: Greg Monroe had 19 points and 15 rebounds, Andre Drummond scored 20 points and host Detroit ended a four-game skid with a 119-109 victory over Indiana.

Roy Hibbert paced Indiana with 19 points, but foul trouble sent him to the bench in the third quarter.

• Perfect 10: Dudley doesn’t miss, Bucks rout Hawks: Reserve forward Jared Dudley made all 10 shots, including four 3-pointers, and scored a season-high 24 points to lead visiting Milwaukee to a 107-77 victory over Atlanta.

Brandon Knight added 16 points for Milwaukee, which snapped Atlanta’s five-game winning streak.

Paul Millsap led the Hawks with 22 points and 11 rebounds.

• Davis leads New Orleans past San Antonio: Anthony Davis had 22 points, 12 rebounds and five blocks, leading host New Orleans to a 97-90 victory over slumping San Antonio.

The Pelicans earned consecutive wins over the Spurs for the first time in team history.

San Antonio has dropped six of seven. Tim Duncan had 20 points and 11 rebounds for the Spurs.

• Westbrook leads Thunder over Hornets: Russell Westbrook scored 29 points to lead Oklahoma City to a 98-75 victory over Charlotte at Charlotte, North Carolina, snapping the Hornets’ season-high four-game win streak.

Westbrook scored 13 points in the first quarter, and Oklahoma City opened a 59-40 halftime lead. Serge Ibaka added 13 points, 14 rebounds and blocked four shots for the Thunder. Neither player saw action in the final period.

Brian Roberts led the Hornets with 17 points.

• Faried grabs 25 rebounds as Denver beats Minnesota: Kenneth Faried had a career-high 25 rebounds to go along with 26 points, and the Denver Nuggets beat the visiting Timberwolves 106-102.

Faried tied the NBA’s highest rebounding total this season, matching Mavericks center Tyson Chandler’s performance in a victory over the Knicks on Nov. 26.

Thaddeus Young had 23 points for the Timberwolves, who have lost seven straight and 13 of 14.

• Rondo, Nowitzki pace Mavs over Lakers: Rajon Rondo scored a season-high 21 points in his fourth game with Dallas and Dirk Nowitzki added 14 in the Mavericks’ 102-98 victory over the visiting Lakers.

Carlos Boozer scored 18 points for the Lakers.

• Suns outlast Kings for 5th straight win: Marcus Morris had 20 points and nine rebounds and Phoenix outlasted short-handed Sacramento 115-106 at Sacramento, California, for its fifth straight win.

Darren Collison scored 19 points, and Rudy Gay added 16 points and five assists for the Kings, who sorely missed DeMarcus Cousins inside. The franchise center sat out with a stomach illness.

• Blazers top Sixers behind Lillard: Damian Lillard had 28 points and nine assists, and host Portland beat Philadelphia 114-93, the Trail Blazers’ seventh win in the last eight games.

Tony Wroten, who missed the Sixers’ last game with a right knee sprain, came off the bench to score 22 points.

• James helps Cavaliers rally past Magic: LeBron James had 29 points and eight assists, and Cleveland rallied to beat Orlando 98-89 at Orlando, Florida.

Kevin Love scored 22 points for Cleveland, which bounced back from a 101-91 loss at Miami on Christmas. Tristan Thompson grabbed 13 rebounds.

The Cavaliers played without point guard Kyrie Irving, who was sidelined by a bruised knee.

Tobias Harris led Orlando with 16 points.

• Cavs’ Varejao has surgery on torn Achilles: Cavaliers center Anderson Varejao had surgery to repair a torn left Achilles tendon, an injury that ended his season and altered Cleveland’s title hopes. There is no timetable for his return.

Varejao was injured Tuesday in a win over Minnesota.

The Cavs lost their first game without Varejao in Miami, and his injury will likely accelerate the team’s search to find inside help.

Varejao, who the Cavs signed to a three-year, $30 million contract in October, has missed 166 games over the past four seasons with injuries.

U.S. beats Finland 2-1 in SO in junior opener

Hockey: Jack Eichel and Chase DeLeo scored in a shootout to help the United States beat defending champion Finland 2-1 in their round-robin opener in the World Junior Championship in Montreal.

Eichel is a freshman at Boston University, and DeLeo plays for Portland in the Western Hockey League.

Mikko Rantanen scored for Finland, and Boston College’s Alex Tuch tied it on a first-period power play.

Boston College’s Thatcher Demko made 29 saves for the Americans, and Ville Husso stopped 36 shots in goal for Finland.

In the other Group A game at Bell Centre, Canada beat Slovakia 8-0 as Robby Fabbri had two goals and two assists.

In Group B in Toronto, Russia rallied to beat Denmark 3-2 in a shootout, and Sweden topped the Czech Republic 5-2.

Comanche continues duel with Wild Oats XI

Sailing: American super maxi Comanche and seven-time champion Wild Oats XI continued their Sydney to Hobart duel, nearly 24 hours into the annual ocean race to the island state of Tasmania.

Comanche, which was launched in October, led defending champion Wild Oats XI by just over a nautical mile. Both had covered almost one-third of the 628-nautical-mile race.

Ragamuffin, another super maxi and skippered by 87-year-old Syd Fischer, was in third place.

Under current conditions and forecasts, the leaders may not reach Hobart until early Monday morning, nearly three days into the race.