Houston Rockets end season on a high; Edge out New Orleans Hornets 84-77: NBA Recap
Cemented at the last spot in the Western conference and way out of the playoff picture, the New Orleans Hornets visited Houston Rockets on Thursday night here at Toyota Center.
Rockets, who lost six in a row coming into the game ended the season with a win, handing a 84-77 defeat to Hornets. They erupted in the 2nd half, overcoming a 17 points deficit and routed Hornets.
Hornets sparked late in the season winning 8 of their last 13 games but it was rather too late for entertaining any post season hopes. Rockets on the other hand are 2 games short of Utah Jazz (who are on the 8th spot
on West) and that has a lot to do with their huge slump at the end of the season.
"There's no way we shouldn't be playing in the playoffs this weekend, and we're not. Bottom line. ... There's just a level that [we've] got to understand and [we've] got to come out with that level on the forefront of your mind
knowing that it's just going to be a battle." Kevin McHale, the Rockets coach said after the game;
Forward Chase Budinger had a career night with 27 points (game high) and 4 boards while Samuel Dalembert had a double-double with 11 points and 11 boards. Courtney Lee poured in 10 points and Goran Dragic dished out 13 assists
to go with 8 points in Rockets last appearance of this shortened season.
Jerome Dyson tallied 15 points for Hornets and Darryl Watkins collected 13 points and 10 boards coming off the bench. Forward Lance Thomas had 11 points and 8 boards while Al-Farouq Aminu chipped in with 11 points to go with 10
boards.
This was a poor night from shooting point of view as Hornets were 39.7% and Rockets were 35.2% from the floor.
Hornets opened their account in the game with an 11-2 run and didn’t face any trouble in concluding the opening frame at 20-12. They blasted their way into the 2nd with 9 unanswered points and augmented their advantage
to 29-12. Midway through the frame, New Orleans had ballooned their advantage to 35-19. The Rockets tried to trim down the huge deficit with a 10-4 run and narrowed the gap to 39-29.
By the end of the 1st half however Hornets were leading by 42-33.
The hosts finally erupted in the 3rd frame and with a 14-5 burst they tied the scores at 47 apiece. Hornets rebutted with an 11-3 run and made their way out of the stalemate taking 58-50 advantage. They then cruised
past the rest of the segment and as the game entered into its decisive frame, New Orleans were leading by 71-63.
Things changed phenomenally in the 4th quarter as Hornets went ice cold and their lead started to dwindle. With 7:07 in hand the scores were tied at 71 each. Al Farooq Aminu helped Hornets out with a 3-pointer but the
Rockets had established a foot hold by then.
After some seesaw action late into the frame the game was tied at 77 each before Rockets finally concluded the game with 7unanswered points, final score 84-77.
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