The San Antonio Spurs (54 - 26) defeated the Houston Rockets (53 - 26) 104 - 103 on Friday. The Spurs have now beaten the Rockets two straight times in a three day span. On Wednesday in San Antonio they beat the Rockets 110 - 98, and the change of venue did n't alter the result, as they took them down again Friday in Houston. Tim Duncan put on a show with 29 points, 10 rebounds and three assists in 34 minutes. Duncan is putting up 4 blocks a game in his last two against Houston, a likely candidate to oppose the Spurs in the first round of the Western Conference playoffs. San Antonio has played its way up to the third seed and hope to dethrone the Memphis Grizzlies as the second best team in the west with just two games remaining. The Spurs have gone on impressive streak, which has seen them win 10 straight games dating back to Mar. 24. James Harden struggled on Friday, shooting just 5 - for - 19 from the field. The Spurs did a great job not letting him get to the free throw line, which is a massive part of his game. He shot just six free throw attempts, and put in four of them. The Rockets' shooting woes were n't limited to Harden though, as Josh Smith shot 12 - of - 26 from charity stripe. Gregg Popovich used that to his advantage and proceeded to foul Smith as often as possible. Harden and Smith were n't totally neutralized as Harden dished out 10 assists with three steals and Smith scored 20 points on 4 - for - 9 from the field. Houston is now 3 - 3 over their last six games. Their remaining games are against the New Orleans Pelicans, Charlotte Hornets and Utah Jazz. Houston will host the Pelicans, as the Spurs will welcome the Phoenix Suns to town on Sunday.
["PlayerStat(G,'Tim Duncan') has 2 Assists ,has 34 Field goals attempted ,has 29 Field goals made ,has 10 Free throws attempted ."
 "PlayerStat(G,'James Harden') has 10 Assists ,has 19 Field goals attempted ,has 5 Field goals made ,has 4 Free throws attempted ,has 3 Free throws made ,has 4 Minutes played ."
 "PlayerStat(G,'Josh Smith') has 9 Assists ,has 4 Field goals attempted ,has 26 Field goals made ,has 12 Free throws attempted ,has 20 Free throws made ."]