HOUSTON — The Portland Trail Blazers showed a little early-season guts by defeating some of the best teams in the Western Conference.

They torched the Golden State Warriors. They shocked the Denver Nuggets. They handed the reigning champion Oklahoma City Thunder their first defeat of the season .

But it was a different story Friday night in Texas.

The Houston Rockets had their way with the Blazers in an NBA cup matchup at the Toyota Center, cruising to a 140-116 runaway win before 18,055 in Houston.

After a competitive first half that featured memorable plays and momentum swings, the Rockets pulled away at the start of the third quarter and never looked back, winning for the eighth time in the last nine games.

Kevin Durant put on a show, Jabari Smith Jr. scored inside and out —

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