[15-5] Houston Rockets 116-108 Detroit Pistons [8-13]
From Yao's ankles to T-Mac's knees, with love! | The Pistons recently fired John Kuester, but Mark Jackson is their new head coach?Two of the top scoring teams in the league faced off, and it was shown in this game. The first quarter started with the Pistons taking command, but the Rockets would come scorching back into it, and shooting over 50% from the field. While the Rockets were having their way offensively, the Pistons weren't off the hook either.
Ben Gordon was a big disturbance for the Rockets defense (or lack of it?), scoring 14 of his 25 points in the first half, going 4/7 from the field. Gordon was slowed down in the second half however, as he finished the game with 25 points on just 7/21 shooting.
With Gordon's offense gone in the second half,
Tracy McGrady stepped into the picture, as the fans at Toyota Center experienced a sense of nostalgia from the good ol' Yao-Tmac days. McGrady was the biggest reason for the Pistons' ability to stay in the game the whole second half.
"
Felt good to be back here in Houston again. These fans were great to me in the years I was here, I'm glad to see they still good to me," said T-Mac, who handled the point guard duties for Detroit in the second half.
The Pistons tied the game at one point in the third quarter, but the Rockets pulled away thanks to a run by their bench, and never looked back. With the score 110-108,
Luis Scola took a jumper from the left wing, and hit nothing but the bottom of the net to ice the game in the last minute, as the Rockets are yet to lose at home this season.
"
It's great to see T-Mac put up a great performance like that. Now that we've gone our separate ways, we'll see which one of us can experience the most success late in our careers," big
Yao Ming said on McGrady's excellent performance.
Wothy of notice:
Tayshaun Prince went up for a rebound, but the ball fell into
Shane Battier's hands. Prince landed wrong on his right leg, and suffered a severe ankle sprain. He will be out for 2-4 weeks with that injury.
Player of the Game-
Aaron Brooks
26 points | 10 assists | 5 rebounds | 1 steal | 8/19 FG | 2/4 3P | 8/9 FTTop Performers:Rockets:Luis Scola - 28 points, 8 rebounds, 5 assists, 1 steal, 2 blocks, 10/16 FG
Yao Ming - 14 points, 11 rebounds, 2 assists, 1 block, 7/13 FG
Courtney Lee - 13 points, 2 rebounds, 1 assist
Pistons:Ben Gordon - 25 points, 2 rebounds, 7/21 FG, 4/10 3P
Tracy McGrady - 22 points, 6 rebounds, 2 assists, 4 TO, 10/15 FG
Tayshaun Prince - 18 points, 7 rebounds, 1 assist, 1 steal
Rodney Stuckey - 13 points, 2 assists
33 31 23 29 116
27 24 32 25 108[16-5] Houston Rockets 88-79 Milwaukee Bucks [9-12]
Scola connects with AB for one of his five assists on the night. | The Bucks were given good looks all game, but bricked shot after shotAfter getting off to a hot start in the first quarter, the Rockets began to slow down in the second, but still held a 12-point lead at halftime. The Rockets struggled badly in the third quarter though; the interior defense and double-team from Milwaukee was too much to handle for
Luis Scola, as he was held to only nine points. The one to step up for the Rockets:
Chase Budinger. In a time of adversity in the second half, he scored 13 points off the bench, off 6/9 shooting.
Both teams shot pretty poorly, the Rockets shot a mediocre 41%, while the Bucks shot a sub-par 36%. "
This was a scary game. Kevin Martin's absence is continuing to haunt us, I'm sure he could've stepped up big in a time of bricking. Just glad we got this win on the road," said
Kyle Lowry after the game.
Player of the Game-
Aaron Brooks
20 points | 7 assists | 5 rebounds | 1 steal | 1 block | 8/18 FG | 2/2 3PKey Performers:Rockets:Chase Budinger - 13 points, 2 rebounds, 6/9 FG
Yao Ming - 11 points, 10 rebounds, 1 assist, 5/11 FG
Courtney Lee - 11 points, 3 rebounds, 1 assist, 5/11 FG
Luis Scola - 9 points, 10 rebounds, 5 assists, 3 steals, 3/12 FG
Bucks:Corey Maggette - 18 points, 3 rebounds, 2 assists, 1 steal, 6/17 FG
John Salmons - 18 points, 6 rebounds, 2 steals, 7/18 FG
Brandon Jennings - 17 points, 4 rebounds, 5 assists, 6/15 FG
Andrew Bogut - 9 points, 11 rebounds, 2 assists, 1 block, 3/7 FG
28 21 15 24 88
21 16 20 22 79[17-5] Houston Rockets 114-92 Cleveland Cavaliers [8-14]
Who needs LeBron when you have JJ Hickson? | Garbage time means the awakening of Jared Jeffries. 10 points!What else can you say about this game? At one point in the first quarter, the score was 28-8, and the Rockets held a double-digit lead for the whole game. The lead would've been 40, had it not been for
JJ Hickson coming in to give an effort at chipping down the lead.
Both teams had problems in terms of taking care of the basketball, as the Rockets committed 14 turnovers and the Cavs had 13 themselves. The Rockets shot a blistering 55% from the field, while the Cavs shot a mediocre 40%. The Rockets are now a perfect 10-0 at home, and will look to add to that streak when the Sacramento Kings come to town for their next game.
Player of the Game-
Yao Ming
17 points | 7 rebounds | 1 assist | 4 blocksKey Performers:Rockets:Luis Scola - 16 points, 4 rebounds, 1 assist, 4 steals
Aaron Brooks - 15 points, 5 assists, 1 rebound, 1 steal, 1 block
Jordan Hill - 15 points, 9 rebounds, 3 assists, 1 block, 6/9 FG
Chase Budinger - 14 points, 6 rebounds, 3 assists, 2 steals, 5/7 FG, 4/4 3P
Cavaliers:Anthony Parker - 25 points, 5 rebounds, 3 steals, 10/19 FG
Mo Williams - 17 points, 5 assists, 1 rebound, 3 steals, 5 TO
JJ Hickson - 15 points, 6 rebounds, 4 assists, 3 steals, 6/9 FG
Antawn Jamison - 15 points, 10 rebounds, 1 assist, 1 steal
35 27 27 25 114
20 29 19 24 92
He's my NLSC tournament partner!
He's "hurt" now though, I'll rest him one more game before bringing him back in, to vaporize some more defenses! 
And yes, it'll soon be K-Mart's team.
