Aşık scores career-high 21 points

HOUSTON

Houston Rockets’ Turkish center Ömer Aşık (L) tries to stop as the Spurs center Tiago Splitter drives to the basket.

Turkish center Ömer Aşık break his career record with 21 points but his efforts were unable to save the Houston Rockets to an overtime loss against the San Antonio Spurs on Dec. 10.

The 26-year-old also had 10 rebounds to record a double-double, as the Rockets lost 134-126 to the Spurs. The Rockets guard Jeremy Lin also had a career-high of 38 points, while Chandler Parsons had 20 points and Toney Douglas added 17 points.

French guard Tony Parker had a triple-double for the Spurs with 27 points, 12 rebounds and 12 assists. Gary Neal also had 29 points for San Antonio.

Aşık upped his statistics remarkably this season producing 10.7 points and 11.4 rebounds per game. He was having 3.1 points per game last year.

The Turkish center is fourth in the league’s rebounds list, while he is ranked 11th in number of double-doubles (10) this season.

The Rockets, who are on a 9-11 winning record, are currently 10th in the Western Conference. The Spurs, with 18-4, lead the conference.

Miami wins

Meanwhile, LeBron James and Dwyane Wade went on a scoring spree to lift the Miami Heat to a 101-92 victory over Southeast rival Atlanta, opening up a 1.5 game gap over the Hawks.

James tallied 27 points, seven rebounds and six assists, while Wade scored 26 points to snap Atlanta’s three-game win streak and keep the Heat (14-5) ahead of the Hawks (12-6).

Reigning league MVP James punctuated the win with a thunderous dunk in the fourth quarter where he took an alley-oop from Norris Cole and soared high above the rim.

“Cole made me go get it, for sure,” James said. “He actually took that literally when I told him, ‘Just throw it anywhere.”

After a close first half, Miami seized the momentum with nine points in a row. The Heat finished the stretch with a 14-2 advantage to open up a 10-point lead.