Brooks, Landry shine as Rockets cruise
February 3, 2010
HOUSTON (AP)—The Houston Rockets finally got a breather after a month of closegames.
Aaron Brooks(notes) and Carl Landry(notes) scored 24 points apiece, and the Rocketssalvaged the last game of their longest homestand of the season, routing theGolden State Warriors 119-97 on Tuesday night.
Trevor Ariza(notes) scored 18 points and Chuck Hayes(notes) grabbed 13 rebounds for theRockets, who finished their six-game homestand with a disappointing 2-4 record.
The Rockets led by as many as 28 and won easily, a much-needed blowout afterthey went 7-9 in the previous 16 games, all decided by 10 points or less.
Houston Rockets' Aaron Bro… AP – Feb 2, 11:15 pm EST Houston Rockets' Trevor Ar… AP – Feb 2, 11:15 pm EST
Houston Rockets' Carl Land… AP – Feb 2, 11:14 pm EST
Houston Rockets' Luis Scol… AP – Feb 2, 11:10 pm EST
Houston Rockets' Carl Land… AP – Feb 2, 11:10 pm EST
Golden State Warriors' Ste… AP – Feb 2, 9:59 pm EST
Golden State Warriors' Cob… AP – Feb 2, 9:58 pm EST
Golden State Warriors' Mon… AP – Feb 2, 9:52 pm EST
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“I don’t remember the last time I sat on the bench at the end of a game,”said Brooks, who also had eight rebounds and six assists. “It felt good to justbe able to sit there and relax.”
Monta Ellis(notes) scored 34 points for the Warriors, who’ve lost six in a rowoverall and 12 of their last 13 road games. Corey Maggette(notes), Golden State’ssecond-leading scorer, sat out with a hip pointer, and the short-handed Warriorsfell into a 21-point hole in the first quarter.
Houston hit 11 of its first 17 shots against the NBA’s worst defensive team,and Golden State matched its sloppy early defense with poor shooting, missing 12of its first 17 shots.
“We couldn’t find it offensively,” said Warriors guard Stephen Curry(notes), whoscored 14. “For us to be competitive, we have to be able to make plays and wedidn’t. We just didn’t come ready to play.”
Luis Scola’s(notes) layup with 45 seconds left in the first quarter put Houston up39-21 and set a Rockets’ season-high point total for any quarter this season.
“We got in there, we handled our business and got the job done today,”Brooks said.
Ellis scored six points to lead an 8-2 Golden State run early in the secondquarter. The Rockets gave away five turnovers in the first three minutes of thequarter and led only 41-33 after Ellis’ jumper.
Ellis swished Golden State’s first 3-pointer with 3:38 left in the half,then assisted on Coby Karl’s(notes) fast-break layup to draw Golden State within three,at 49-46. The Rockets helped the Warriors by continuing to miss shots and coughup careless turnovers.
Houston’s starters returned and rebuilt the lead to 59-49 by halftime. Ellisscored 27 points in the first half on 10-of-17 shooting. No other Warrior hadmore than six points at the break.
“Monta had a very good game,” Golden State coach Don Nelson said, “but hejust didn’t have any help.”
The Rockets opened the third quarter with a 9-2 burst, running their offenseas smoothly as they did at the start of the game. They also held Ellis to onefield goal in the first eight minutes of the quarter and extended the lead to73-57.
Ellis had 34 points through three quarters, his 19th 30-plus game of theseason, but no other Warrior had more than seven.
“We had to load to him, get bodies in front of him,” Brooks said. “Thefirst half, he would spin baseline and get dunks and would go backdoor and therewas nobody there to help. We did a better job of controlling that in the secondhalf.”
Shane Battier(notes) and Brooks sank consecutive 3-pointers early in the fourthquarter to stretch the lead to 20, and Ellis went to the bench for good with9:18 remaining. Adelman had most of his starters on the bench by the 5-minutemark.
NOTES: The Warriors dropped to 3-28 when they’re outscored in the thirdquarter. … The Rockets have won 17 consecutive home games in February, datingto a 106-90 loss to Toronto on Feb. 28, 2007. … Adelman said C Yao Ming(notes) is onschedule in his recovery from surgery to repair a hairline fracture in his leftfoot. Yao underwent the complicated procedure in July, and he’s out for thisseason. But Yao wasn’t wearing a protective boot when he sank more than 90 of100 free throws before Sunday’s game against Phoenix. Adelman said he isn’t surewhen Yao will be ready to resume full basketball activities. Yao did not attendTuesday’s game.
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