Recap: Orlando vs. Houston
Sports Network | November 22, 2008
Orlando, FL (Sports Network) - Yao Ming recorded 22 points and 13 rebounds and Houston once again went to Orlando and left with a victory in a 100-95 decision over the Magic.
Tracy McGrady scored 17 points against his former team, while Rafer Alston added 17 points and seven assists for the Rockets, who have won four of five overall and seven straight at Amway Arena. Ron Artest logged his usual all- around effort of 11 points, six rebounds and five assists in the win.
Jameer Nelson dropped a team-high 21 points with six assists, and Rashard Lewis contributed 18 points, eight rebounds and five helpers for Orlando, which snapped a five-game winning streak by shooting 2-for-15 from three-point land in the second half.
Dwight Howard and J.J. Redick each logged 13 points with Howard collecting nine boards in defeat.
"It is a good road win," Yao said. "We try and play with much better team discipline and team defense. Dwight Howard is so powerful and everybody tried to give me a hand. That was the key."
The back-and-forth affair continued in the early portion of the fourth quarter, and Lewis drained a three-ball to get the Magic within 90-88 with 4:33 to play.
Yao then tipped in an Alston miss and came up with a block on a driving Nelson, while Artest gave the visitors a six-point lead on a jumper with 3:33 to play.
The aforementioned three-pointer was the last field goal Orlando hit in the contest until Lewis drained a meaningless triple in the waning seconds, as Houston sank its free throws down the stretch to come away with another close victory.
With Howard fighting foul trouble, Yao took over with 10 first-quarter points as the Rockets jumped out to a 24-17 lead heading to the second frame.
Lewis stepped up in Howard's absence and hit three trifectas and Redick scored seven in the stanza to bring the Magic back, as Nelson's jumper gave Orlando a 53-51 lead at the break.
Neither team led by more than three points in the third quarter, and Houston brought with it a 73-71 edge into the fourth.
"It was a tough one," Magic head coach Stan Van Gundy said. "I thought that our guys fought very, very hard. I thought Houston played well. I didn't think we made an inordinate amount of defensive mistakes, but we did make a couple, well more than a couple, a few in the second half and they made us pay on every one."
On Monday, the Rockets will finish a three-game road swing in Miami, while the Magic host Milwaukee...Hedo Turkoglu, who had started 140 straight games for Orlando, sat out with flu-like symptoms...Houston has won five of its last six games with the Magic.
