The Detroit Pistons lost their seventh straight game to begin the 2012-13 season on Saturday, falling to the Houston Rockets, 96-82.

The Pistons kept the league's second-leading scorer, James Harden, relatively in check in the loss. Harden scored 20 points on 6-for-14 shooting. However, three other Rockets finished in double figures in a balanced scoring effort. Brandon Knight led Detroit with 16 points and seven assists, but also turned the ball over five times.

Elsewhere in the Central division, the first-place Chicago Bulls squeezed past the Minnesota Timberwolves on Saturday night, 87-80. Nate Robinson came off the bench to score 18 points in 31 minutes for the Bulls, who ended the Wolves' three-game winning streak.

The Milwaukee Bucks fell to 3-2 after a 96-92 loss to the Boston Celtics on Saturday, and the Indiana Pacers tied the Bucks in the win column with a with an 89-85 victory over the winless Washington Wizards. The Cleveland Cavaliers dropped their third straight game, falling to 2-5 following a 106-91 defeat at the hands of the Oklahoma City Thunder.