The Houston Rockets secured a comfortable 112-98 win against the sloppy San Antonio Spurs to mark the return of James Harden to the court. The Spurs committed a whopping 20 turnovers and their bench was outperformed 59-38. They still have a lot of work to before the 2020-21 season tips off.Sloppy start from both Houston Rockets and San Antonio SpursThe biggest draw of this game was The Beard who featured in the game for 21 minutes while managing 12 points, four rebounds, and three assists. Prior to tip-off, an image of Harden started doing the rounds where he was looking rather out of shape.James Harden after eating all of Lil Baby’s honeybuns pic.twitter.com/3ZQc4Upidw— Magic’s Burner (@MagicsBurner) December 16, 2020So many similarities between me and James Harden:* Both have initials JH.* Both are left-handed.* Both spent the last month in Atlanta not really exercising much.— John Hollinger (@johnhollinger) December 16, 2020Stay woke, Daryl Morey paid his staff of nerds to learn photoshop to make James Harden look thicker then frozen gravy, so other teams pull their offers and he get traded to Philly— ProFootballTeamCommenter(4-0 since week 10) (@PFTCommenter) December 16, 2020That didn't stop the 2018 NBA MVP from using his signature step-back three to get his first points for Houston Rockets in the preseason. He looked rather engaged as well, speaking to his teammates regularly during the game.Harden picks up where he left off 🔥#NBAPreseason pic.twitter.com/uMDnnJVdHM— NBA TV (@NBATV) December 16, 2020Harden seems pretty engaged to me pic.twitter.com/D6Yk9niwLq— arian (@arxanii) December 16, 2020Despite Harden creating a lot of chances, the Houston Rockets' offense didn't function well, with them making less than 30% of their treys in the first half. The San Antonio Spurs weren't at their best either, and this included DeMar DeRozan who was seen sporting an afro.Same energy #Spurs pic.twitter.com/kWPZ4UDnvI— Nick (@xxthinkpositive) December 16, 2020Eric Gordon is trying to run James Harden out of town with his play.— WallNinetyFour / Founder of John Wall Fan Club (@RedNinetyFour) December 16, 2020Good defense from the Houston Rockets coupled with reckless ball-handling from the San Antonio Spurs allowed the former to rake up several points via turnovers. There weren't too many positives for the Spurs in the first half but rookie Devin Vassell looked fairly confident on both ends of the court.The hustle 👏👏 pic.twitter.com/iIfb0ncP51— Houston Rockets (@HoustonRockets) December 16, 2020John Wall through 2.5 preseason games, coming back from a torn Achilles:59 minutes, 43 points on 47% shooting, 16 assists, 5 steals— Zach Kram (@zachkram) December 16, 2020I don't want to make too much of 5 1/2 quarters of preseason basketball but based on what I've seen in that sample size I think Devin Vassell should play all the minutes this season.— Jeff McDonald (@JMcDonald_SAEN) December 16, 2020LaMarcus Aldridge led all scorers at half-time with 12 points but the Rockets led the tie 56-55. John Wall looked good for his nine points as well.San Antonio Spurs get dominated in the second halfDejounte Murray in action [Image: Spurs Twitter]Entering the second half, the San Antonio Spurs pulled all the renowned guys from the game to allow the youngsters to gain some valuable playing time. They did start off the third quarter hot but eventually fizzled out and Houston Rockets took control of proceedings, particularly with their three-point shooting.James Harden giving Spurs rookie Devin Vassell his “welcome to the league” moment 🗣(via @HoustonRockets) pic.twitter.com/9s1znCFUiX— Overtime (@overtime) December 16, 2020Lonnie Walker kept the ball rolling for the San Antonio Spurs and had 17 points by the end of the third quarter. The turnovers continued to hurt Gregg Popovich's side though.𝙨𝙢𝙤𝙤𝙤𝙤𝙩𝙝@lonniewalker_4 with a game-high 17 PTS and counting! pic.twitter.com/fAvjXbn2am— San Antonio Spurs (@spurs) December 16, 2020Disaster struck for Houston Rockets as Chris Clemons went down with a non-contact injury and had to be stretchered off. They still rallied behind the efforts of Ben McLemore and created the needed separation to win the game.Besides James Harden and John Wall who looked fairly good in limited minutes, rookie Jae'Sean Tate also caught the eye, managing 11 points on 5-of-7 shooting to go with his seven boards.Rockets-Spurs Takeaways:1. Look how versatile Boogie’s stat line is2. Sterling Brown, Jae’Sean Tate, and David Nwaba bring elite levels of hustle and athleticism off the bench that HOU has sorely needed for years3. Move EG to the bench4. Harden is giving effort like a pro— Roosh (@RooshWilliams) December 16, 2020HIS NAME IS JAE’SEAN TATE pic.twitter.com/WZqmTkhuxu— arian (@arxanii) December 16, 2020Jae’Sean Tate is looking like a phenomenal role player so far— Roosh (@RooshWilliams) December 16, 2020Also read: Greatest starting 5 coached by Gregg Popovich