|
RECAP
|
BOX SCORE
|
GAME FLOW
HOUSTON (AP) -- The Miami Heat came into the Compaq Center with
revenge in mind and got it.
Miami, which has won five straight games and seven of its last
eight, beat the Houston Rockets 103-85 Tuesday night. On Nov. 25,
Houston beat Miami 91-80.
To make matters worse, the Rockets, mindful of their 11-2 record
against the Eastern Conference before Tuesday, had loudly talked of
how they would be the class of that conference if they were in it.
Those words inspired the Heat, who hit 63 percent of its shots
in the first quarter and led by as many as 24 points in the third.
"It was revenge tonight," said Tim Hardaway, who had 15
points, including 12 in the first quarter. "We wanted to come in
here and send a message.
"We read what they said in the paper that if they were in the
Eastern Conference they'd be a No. 1 or 2 seed. Well, we showed
them they're not a No. 1 or 2 seed. We wanted to show them what the
Eastern Conference was all about and we shut them up."
Anthony Mason, who had 19 points and 15 rebounds, agreed.
"If they were thinking they were a No. 1 or No. 2 seed I think
they may have been a No. 1 or 2 on their seats," Mason said.
"It's clear they're not among the best in our conference."
Miami coach Pat Riley could see the desire in his team.
"When a team embarrasses you for three quarters at home, guys
have a tendency to remember that," Riley said. "I thought we
defended much better tonight.
"We stopped their penetrations and we didn't let them get their
drive-bys to the basket. They got us pretty good that night in
Miami and we remembered."
The Rockets played almost as poorly Tuesday as they had played
well in November.
"It was just a snowball in reverse," coach Rudy Tomjanovich
said. "The last time we played them, we made big shots and Bull
(Matt Bullard) had a bunch of threes and we played a great game.
"I didn't feel there was any energy shown by us. We certainly
didn't have the energy to compete against a playoff team."
The Rockets had no excuses.
"It was one of those games," Maurice Taylor said. "When you
play 82 games, you have nights like this sometimes. We couldn't get
anything going.
"We looked stagnant on offense and couldn't get it going on
defense. Mentally, we just weren't in it."
Anthony Carter had 16 points, Hardaway 15, Eddie Jones 14, Brian
Grant 12, Bruce Bowen 11 and Eddie House 10 for Miami.
Cuttino Mobley had 22 points for the Rockets, whose two-game
winning streak was snapped. Steve Francis added 21 points and
Hakeem Olajuwon 13.
The Heat hit 51 percent (43-of-84) of their shots, going 6-of-12
on 3-pointers, and won despite being outrebounded 63-49.
In the first quarter, the Heat went 5-of-6 from 3-point range
and led by as many as 10. Hardaway hit all five shots he took in
the period, including two 3s, to help Miami lead 31-23 at the end
of the quarter.
The Heat didn't cool off much in the second as they stretched
the lead to 16 with the help of a 10-0 run. Jones scored 10 in the
first 7:46 of the quarter.
Miami led 58-40 at the half, and Mason had the hot hand in the
third quarter, scoring eight of his points as Miami's lead crested
at 71-47 midway through the period. A 3-pointer just before the
buzzer pulled Houston to 76-59, the closest it came in the
quarter.
Game notes
The Heat are 22-11 when holding opponents to fewer than 90
points ... Miami hasn't allowed an opponent to score more than 92
points in its last 14 games.
|
|
ALSO SEE
NBA Scoreboard
Miami Clubhouse
Houston Clubhouse
RECAPS
LA Lakers 102
Cleveland 96
Orlando 93
Indiana 86
Toronto 96
Philadelphia 89
Miami 103
Houston 85
Portland 92
Chicago 81
Utah 102
Seattle 88
Sacramento 105
Golden State 79
FROM
ATHLETESDIRECT
Rudy Tomjanovich Official Site
|
