The Houston Rockets hand the New York Knicks their fifth-straight loss
The Houston Rockets (3-6) won their second-straight game with a 104-96 victory over the reeling New York Knicks (3-7) on Sunday 14 November at Madison Square Garden in New York City.
The Rockets, playing without starters Yao Ming and Aaron Brooks, were led by shooting guard Kevin Martin, who posted 28 points, five rebounds, and four assists. Power forward Luis Scola
scored 24 points to go along with eight rebounds while Courtney Lee led all Houston bench players with 12 points. While Kyle Lowry struggled from the field (1-6), he finished with seven rebounds, six assists, and three steals.
The Knicks were led by Amar’e Stoudemire, their big off-season acquisition, who finished with 25 points and eight rebounds. Anthony Randolph played 38 minutes off the bench, tallying 17
points and seven rebounds while starters Danilo Gallinari and Raymond Felton chipped in with 14 and 15 points, respectively. Landry Fields shot 5-6 for the game and finished with 12 points.
After shooting only 3-16 from three-point range and recording 15 assists to the Rockets’ 28, the Knicks lost their fifth-straight game after entering the season with a sense of optimism
after signing Stoudemire and Felton over the summer.
Stoudemire was 6-8 from the field in the first quarter, helping the Knicks to a 27-26 lead after the first. But led by Martin, who scored 10 points in the second quarter, the Rockets entered
half time up 58-52.
Ish Smith of the Rockets hit a jumper at the end of the third quarter, pushing his team’s lead to 84-75 heading into the final frame, which was an ugly 12 minutes for the Knicks. With
boos raining down at MSG, the Knicks missed their first eight shots of the final period, and a three-pointer by Lee put Houston up 89-75. And the Rockets didn’t let up, going on a 9-0 run to up their lead to an insurmountable 96-77 halfway through the final
quarter.
What they said
With Yao and Brooks out of the lineup last night, the Rockets were happy with the win.
“We’re going through a lot right now,” said Martin. “Two of our top four players are out right now and we thought we were going to have them beginning of the year and find chemistry early,
but now we're going to have to rely on whoever we have at the moment."
Amar’e Stoudemire, who came over from the Phoenix Suns this past summer, expressed frustration at his team’s travails of late.
"I don't understand why we're not playing with the urgency," he said. "I'm not used to that. We don't have that sense of urgency. It's almost as if it doesn't matter. That's something
I'm not used to.”
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