Rockets Rebound Against Spurs

The Rockets have come back from a loss to Dallas with an impressive win against the defending champion San Antonio Spurs. The Rockets came out with a quick spurt put on by Shane Battier who came out of the gates with back-to-back three pointers. Other than that, the first quarter was uneventful with the exception of Chuck Hayes getting an elbow to the eye from Tim Duncan that required him to get stitches, forcing Rick Adelman to put in Luis Scola early. Scola picked up three quick fouls, forcing Mutumbo on the court earlier than in other games.

The second quarter started of hot for Mike James who had eight quick points. James is the only other Rocket with consistent double-digit point games on the roster other than Yao Ming and Tracy McGrady. The Rockets need him to score day in and day out, as he failed to hit double digits in the loss to Dallas. He finished the game with 13 points in only 20 minutes of play -- five points more in six fewer minutes than Tuesday. Along with James' scoring and the hustle of Spur killer Bonzi Wells, the Rockets finished the second quarter with a 9-0 run, resulting in a half time score of 45-32. Wells finished the game with a double-double, scoring 14 points and 15 rebounds.

The start of the second half wasn't nearly as pretty as two offensive fouls and a 10-4 run by San Antonio put the momentum on the visiting team's side. The Houston starters racked up five fouls in the first three minutes of the second half, which put pressure on the bench and they shined last night scoring 31 points and eventually, with the contributions of Wells, James and Head, the Rockets to pulled away in the fourth as the Spurs seemed to quit, dropping down by 10 points in the last two minutes of the game.

The Rockets (4-1) will now be heading to Milwaukee to play the Bucks (2-2) in a publicity bonanza as Yao Ming's team will play against Milwaukee's Chinese import, rookie Yi Jianlian who is averaging just under 10 points per game.