[30-10] Houston Rockets 103-101 Orlando Magic [19-22]
Lowry played great second fiddle this game. | Kevin Martin shows he's much in the clutch, knocks down the game-winner.
Dwight Howard had a strong game, but not strong enough. | Arenas had a sub-par shooting game, which is part of the reason for the loss.The Orlando Magic started off strong, with
JJ Redick getting the first three points of the game. From there, Orlando would chuck up 25 three-point attempts, connecting on nine of them. Threes were a part of the reason Orlando kept themselves alive in this one. Redick shot 3/9 from downtown,
Jameer Nelson shot 3/5, and
Gilbert Arenas shot 2/6. Arenas was the high point man for Orlando with 22 points, but on a bad 8/22 shooting.
Dwight Howard meanwhile notched a double-double of 20 points and 13 boards, accompanied by four blocks as he led the Magic to dominate the inside.
Houston on the other hand, had powerful contributions from
Kevin Martin,
Luis Scola, and
Kyle Lowry. Martin had a game high 28 points to go along with four rebounds and assists apiece, and shot 12/20 from the field. Lowry had a huge first half in the assists department with eight for the half, finishing with 19 points and nine dimes. Scola had a near double-double of 15 points, nine boards, shooting 6/10 from the field.
Orlando had to play catch up all game long, and with less than a minute left, they were down 101-95. Two costly turnovers, and two consecutive three-pointers later, the Magic miraculously tied the game at 101 equal with 14 seconds left in the game. The Rockets put the ball in Martin's hands; he drove right but was cut off by Arenas, and then drove across the top of the arc, and pulled up for a 16-foot elbow jumper. He knocked it down with 4.4 seconds remaining to put the Rockets up 103-101.
On the other end, the Orlando Magic did not use their four seconds wisely, and Arenas ended up firing up a long desperation three that was nowhere near making it, as Orlando's catch up effort fell short on their home floor.
Notes: Both teams shot 47% from the field, but Houston won the battle of the boards 48-39.
Key Performers:Rockets:Kevin Martin - 28 points, 4 rebounds, 4 assists, 1 steal, 12/20 FG, 2/3 3P
Kyle Lowry - 19 points, 9 assists, 5 rebounds, 4 steals, 5/9 FG, 8/10 FT
Luis Scola - 15 points, 9 rebounds, 3 assists, 6/10 FG
Yao Ming - 10 points, 10 rebounds, 1 block, 5/9 FG
Goran Dragic - 9 points, 3 assists, 2 rebounds, 1 steal, 4/9 FG
Magic:Gilbert Arenas - 22 points, 6 assists, 3 rebounds, 3 steals, 8/22 FG, 2/6 3P, 4/6 FT
Dwight Howard - 20 points, 13 rebounds, 2 assists, 4 blocks, 1 steal, 7/14 FG, 6/9 FT
JJ Redick - 17 points, 3 rebounds, 2 assists, 1 steal, 7/15 FG, 3/9 3P
Jameer Nelson - 13 points, 6 assists, 1 rebound, 5/9 FG, 3/5 3P
Brandon Bass - 11 points, 7 rebounds, 2 assists, 5/8 FG
Hedo Turkoglu - 10 points, 5 rebounds, 3 assists, 1 steal, 5/11 FG
32 23 29 19 103
22 27 30 22 101[31-10] Houston Rockets 102-94 Indiana Pacers [18-20]
Scola provided a necessary scoring boost to pull off the win. | Martin had a relatively mediocre game.
Despite his twisted ankle, Granger scored a game high 30 points. | Hibbert's jumpshot was smooth all game long.It was
Danny Granger's and
Roy Hibbert's combination of 55 points that gave the Indiana Pacers the boost they needed. Thanks to this strong scoring duo, the Houston Rockets' biggest lead throughout the night was 10. At one point in the first quarter, Indiana held the lead for a brief few minutes, but from then on they trailed and kept the game very close.
"
We were keeping them at bay but they kept snapping at our heels and we had to give it all we could so they wouldn't regain the lead,"
Kevin Martin, who had a team high 24 points, said.
Granger twisted his ankle on an and-one call that he converted over Martin, but was still able to play and knock down the free throw. He didn't seem very bothered by the injury, as he ended up scoring a game high 30 points on 12/23 shooting. The biggest reason for Indiana's downfall was lack of support to Granger and Hibbert, as the next best player was
Patrick Mills with 13 points on a sub-par 4/14 shooting.
The Rockets shot 50% from the field compared to Indiana's 44%. That was the biggest difference, as
Luis Scola scored 20 points on an efficient 9/13 shooting, and
Kyle Lowry dropped a double-double of 13 points and 10 assists.
Key Performers:Rockets:Kevin Martin - 24 points, 8 rebounds, 3 assists, 8/18 FG, 2/4 3P, 6/6 FT
Luis Scola - 20 points, 7 rebounds, 1 assist, 2 steals, 1 block, 9/13 FG, 2/2 FT
Kyle Lowry - 13 points, 10 assists, 2 rebounds, 1 block, 3/6 FG, 3/3 3P, 4/6 FT
Yao Ming - 11 points, 10 rebounds, 5/13 FG, 1/1 FT
Terrence Williams - 10 points, 1 rebound, 4/5 FT
Pacers:Danny Granger - 30 points, 4 rebounds, 3 assists, 1 steal, 12/23 FG, 4/10 3P, 2/2 FT
Roy Hibbert - 25 points, 9 rebounds, 1 assist, 3 steals, 1 block, 12/20 FG
Patrick Mills - 13 points, 6 assists, 4 rebounds, 2 steals, 4/14 FG, 4/4 FT
Carl Landry - 6 points, 10 rebounds, 8 assists, 2 blocks, 3/7 FG
29 23 23 27 102
28 18 24 24 94