Houston Rockets at Miami Heat

Heat take historically big lead in first quarter, rout Rockets

Forgive Miami and Houston if they felt otherwise.

"Surprising? Not surprising to me," Leonard said. "Don't get it twisted. The Houston Rockets are incredibly talented. But we came in with a game plan and a mindset that we were going to take away what they're good at, be disciplined and execute. That's what we did."

Jimmy Butler scored 18 points and had nine assists for the Heat, and James Johnson scored 17 in his season debut. Miami is 5-1, matching the best six-game start in franchise history.

James Harden scored 29 for Houston, while Russell Westbrook was held to only 10. Westbrook also posted a career-worst -46 plus/minus. His previous worst was -36 at Washington on Feb. 13, 2017, according to ESPN's Stats & Information.

The Heat had 38 assists to Houston's 19, and the Rockets were just 14 of 48 from 3-point range.

Miami led 46-14 after that first quarter. The only bigger leads after one quarter since the shot clock was put into play came when the Los Angeles Lakers led the Sacramento Kings 40-4 after one quarter on Feb. 4, 1987, and the Baltimore Bullets leading the Kansas City-Omaha Kings 45-12 after one quarter on Dec. 9, 1972.

"They came out and blitzed us," Harden said. "They brought energy and effort that we couldn't match. And it showed."

The lead was 59-18 four minutes into the second quarter. Houston got within 25 points by halftime, but no closer from there.

"The energy, I don't have many complaints," Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said. "Guys really brought it tonight."

Goran Dragic scored 15 points and Tyler Herro had 12 for Miami. Chris Clemons had 16 and Ben McLemore scored 14 for Houston.

TIP-INS

HARDEN'S SHOOTING

CLEMONS DEBUTS

Clemons, the third-leading scorer in NCAA Division I men's history and someone who averaged 30.1 per game as a senior at Campbell last season, made his NBA debut. Clemons scored 3,225 points in 130 college games, and was 5 for 18 from the floor Sunday.

UP NEXT

Rockets: At Memphis on Monday, ending a four-game road trip.

Heat: At Denver on Tuesday, opening a three-game West swing.

Regular Season Series

MIA leads series 1-0