DPA/Los Angeles

J J Redick dropped in 26 points, Chris Paul had 23 with 17 assists and the hot-shooting LA Clippers handed the Rockets their first loss of the season, 137-118 on Monday night.

“It was a great team win for us,” Paul said. “Obviously, we don’t like the 118 points we gave up but we’ll take the win.”

Jamal Crawford added 21 points with six triples, Blake Griffin contributed 18 points and Jared Dudley chipped in with 15 off the bench for the Clippers (3-1) who never trailed en route to their third straight win.

“That’s a good team over there but we had a great game plan,”

Crawford said. “We’re doing it together. It’s always fun when you’re doing it that way”

Israeli-native Omri Casspi led the Rockets (3-1) with 19 points, and James Harden had 15.

Howard, who was greeted with boos during player introductions, finished with 13 points and nine rebounds in his first game back to Staples Center since the game’s most dominant big man left the Lakers last summer as a free agent.

“They can boo me a million times but I’ll still play,” Howard said.

The Rockets trailed by 18 early in the final frame but went on a 9-0 run to pull within 107-98 with just over 10 minutes left to play.

The Clippers would respond behind Paul. The crafty All-Star guard scored 10 points and set up DeAndre Jordan and Griffin for crowd-pleasing alley-oop dunks that capped a decisive 22-10 surge as the lead quickly grew to 129-108 with 4 minutes 27 seconds remaining.

“We came out with little defensive intensity,” said Rockets coach Kevin McHale, whose club allowed the most points in a regulation game since 1991. “They did whatever they wanted. We just couldn’t stop them.”

Elsewhere: Golden State Warriors 110, Philadelphia 76ers 90: Andre Iguodala drained a career-high seven 3-pointers en route to 32 points against his former team, and Stephen Curry collected his second career triple-double as the visiting Warriors routed the previously undefeated Sixers.

Curry finished with 18 points, 12 assists and 10 rebounds while David Lee also netted for 18 for the Warriors (3-1) who led by as many as 39 in the third quarter en route to the slaughter.

Evan Turner and rookie Michael Carter-Williams netted 18 points apiece for the Sixers (3-1) who rallied for impressive wins over defending league champion Miami and Chicago before the lopsided loss.

Minnesota (3-1) trailed by as many as 23 in the third quarter and 16 with five minutes left to play. But Kevin Love scored inside with 39 seconds to cap a 17-2 surge pulling the visitors within 93-92.

The Timberwolves had a shot to pull out the improbable win after Irving missed an off-balance runner in the lane with 11 ticks left. But Love, already 0-6 from behind the arc, banged the potential game-winning 3-pointer off the back of the rim at the buzzer.

Kevin Martin topped the Timberwolves with 23 points while Love collected 17 and 13 rebounds.