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RECAP
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BOX SCORE
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GAME FLOW
HOUSTON (AP) -- Jerry Stackhouse's career-high 46 points meant
little, perhaps nothing.
|  | | Pistons guard Jerry Stackhouse drives past Houston's Kenny Thomas and Shandon Anderson. |
"It would have been great to get the 46 and win, but it's no
consolation the way we played," Stackhouse said Thursday night
after his Detroit Pistons lost to the Houston Rockets 107-97.
Stackhouse's total was a point short of the most by an opposing
player at Compaq Center -- Mitch Richmond on Dec. 15, 1995.
"I was getting the ball in the spots where I wanted it, and
that made it easy to score," Stackhouse said. "I don't feel
anyone can stop me one-on-one, and Shandon (Anderson) was out there
all by himself. That left me open. But it's no good when you don't
win. We didn't shoot the ball as well as we wanted to."
Stackhouse, who scored 44 points against Toronto in Detroit's
season opener, was 15 of 27 from the field and 13 of 14 from the
free-throw line.
"That's the NBA," Anderson said. "You're not going to stop
guys who shoot that much. He made some great shots falling back and
driving. Some of the layups bounced his way. But when you've got it
going, you've got it going. You can't hold your head down. "
Stackhouse scored 23 points in the first half, the 10th time
this season he reached 20 after two quarters.
"You know he's going to take a lot of shots," Maurice Taylor
said. "You're not going to stop a guy like that. He's who they
have to go to, so he's going to score. We just tried to rebound and
shut everyone else down."
Steve Francis scored 26 points for Houston, and Anderson and
Cuttino Mobley each had 21 points for the Rockets, who stopped a
five-game home losing streak. Houston has won eight straight at
home against the Pistons.
"Stackhouse had a tremendous performance," Rockets coach Rudy
Tomjanovich said. "I still think we played good defense. This guy
was just in another universe. We tried to run guys at him, but it's
hard to double-team a guy when he gets the ball outside so much
like that."
Taylor added 16 points and Kenny Thomas 13 for the Rockets. Dana
Barros had 13 points for Detroit, coming off a 107-104 loss at
Dallas on Wednesday night.
"We played much better last night and it was really obvious
that we were tight tonight," Pistons coach George Irvine said.
"We had Jerry, obviously, and he had a great night scoring, but we
never could step it up defensively. Francis was good, and we just
couldn't stop him. We gave up too many points in the paint and got
outrebounded."
Stackhouse thought the Pistons' lack of defense was the
difference.
"I just think defensively we had a lot of mistakes and too many
breakdowns," he said. "We thought we had it down offensively, but
we never could solve them, especially Francis."
Houston went on a 12-2 run midway through the first quarter to
take a 14-7 lead and a 3-pointer by Francis made it 21-11.
Houston opened a 30-22 lead
by the end of the quarter. Stackhouse scored 13 points by then and
Anderson 10.
Francis scored nine points the first 6:20 of the second quarter
as the Rockets expanded their lead to as many as 12. Houston led
57-51 at halftime lead as Francis had 18 points and Anderson 15,
offsetting 23 by Stackhouse.
Stackhouse scored 15 more points in the third quarter but Detroit
trailed 83-76.
Game notes
The Rockets are 7-1 vs. Eastern Conference teams. ...
Houston is 9-1 when scoring 100 or more points. ... Alex English
scored the most points in a game against the Rockets, 54, during
the 1985-86 season.
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ALSO SEE
NBA Scoreboard
Detroit Clubhouse
Houston Clubhouse
RECAPS
Miami 81
New Jersey 78
Minnesota 105
Seattle 92
New York 95
Orlando 92
Chicago 98
Washington 96
Houston 107
Detroit 97
FROM
ATHLETESDIRECT
Jerry Stackhouse Official Site
Rudy Tomjanovich Official Site
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