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RECAP
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BOX SCORE
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GAME FLOW
HOUSTON (AP) -- Losers of seven straight road games and 10 of
their last 11, the Golden State Warriors were happy to run into a
Houston Rockets team that was missing its two leading scorers.
Antawn Jamison scored 26 points, Larry Hughes added 22, Mookie
Blaylock 15 and Marc Jackson and Vonteego Cummings 13 each as
Golden State defeated Houston 95-87 Saturday night. The rockets
were without Steve Francis (sprained ankle) and Cuttino Mobley
(hyperextended elbow).
"Christmas is sometime soon, so it was good to win -- especially
when they're so hard for us to come by," Golden State coach Dave
Cowens said. "It was a blessing to us. It was also a plus to play
a team that was a little banged-up, too, for a change."
Golden State also had only 10 in uniform with players such as
Adam Keefe (broken nose) and Erick Dampier (knee surgery) out.
"It's nice to get a win any time for us, whether it's before
Christmas, Halloween or Easter, whatever," Blaylock said. "We had
to balance the attack and double-team them, especially early when
they started scoring so easily.
"We knew we had to win with them being short."
Said Jamison: "Any time you don't have Francis and Cuttino out
there, you have to take advantage. I think we caught a team that
has been struggling and we got them when they're down."
Eleven of the Warriors' 27 games have been decided by seven
points or fewer, so the close game at the end was no surprise.
"We've been in games where we should have won at least half of
them but just didn't get it done," Jamison said. "We did the
things to close this one out. Maybe we can turn it around."
The Rockets lost their season-high fourth in a row, all of them
at home, to slip to .500 for the first time since Nov. 16.
"We had our key guys out but I'm proud of the way we battled,"
coach Rudy Tomjanovich said. "We had gotten to a point where we
had played pretty good on the road. But since then we've just run
into some tough luck and we're all beat up.
"It's a shame because we had worked so hard to get to .500 and
then we have injuries knock us back. It could be fatigue with guys
playing extended minutes, but they played hard and did the best
they could."
One player who wasn't accustomed to the minutes was Moochie
Norris. Playing in place of Francis, he got his second NBA start
and played a career-high 48 minutes. He tied his career-high with
19 points, but had only four in the fourth quarter.
"I tried to pace myself in the first half so I wouldn't get too
tired," Norris said. "I was kind of cruising for a while. It's
just one of those funny things where you're not used to the minutes
and you run out of steam."
Maurice Taylor added 18 and 12 rebounds, Hakeem Olajuwon had 16
and Walt Williams had 13 points and a season-high six assists.
Jamison scored four points early in the fourth as part of a 9-2
run that gave the Warriors their biggest lead, 85-76 with 6:39 to
play.
The Rockets closed to 87-83 with 2:19 to play, but Jamison's
turnaround jumper made it 89-83 and Cummings hit a jumper with 36
seconds and added two free throws with 23 seconds remaining.
Blaylock's two free throws with 14 seconds left sealed the win.
Two baskets by Olajuwon allowed Houston to move ahead
27-23 at the end of the first period and gave Olajuwon 10 points.
Golden State scored the first six points of the second quarter
to go back on top, 29-27. Moments later, Houston went on an 11-2
run to open its biggest lead, 40-33 with 6:18 left in the half.
Hughes scored eight points the final six minutes to help the
Warriors come back to tie it at 51 at the half. Jamison had 17
points at that time and Hughes 13.
The Rockets came out cold the second half, missing eight of
their first nine shots. When Golden State went on an 8-0 run,
including back-to-back 3s by Blaylock and Hughes, the Warriors held
a 63-56 advantage.
Houston answered with its own 9-0 run, including a 3 by
Williams, to go back on top 65-63 with 4:40 left in the period.
Golden State settled for a 72-71 lead after three as Jamison and
Hughes each had 20 points.
Game notes
It was the first time since the start of the 1998-99 season
that the Rockets played without both Francis and Mobley ... Rookie
Dan Langhi had career-highs in minutes (11), points (six) and
rebounds (three) by halftime ... The Warriors led the NBA in
offensive rebounds with a 15.5 average entering the game.
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ALSO SEE
NBA Scoreboard
Golden State Clubhouse
Houston Clubhouse
RECAPS
Atlanta 91
Indiana 87
Charlotte 88
San Antonio 84
Detroit 106
Chicago 93
Miami 86
New Jersey 80
Orlando 111
Cleveland 92
Utah 98
Minnesota 92
Golden State 95
Houston 87
Milwaukee 104
Boston 99
Phoenix 102
Denver 93
Portland 87
Washington 70
LA Clippers 92
Vancouver 90
Sacramento 97
Seattle 92
FROM
ATHLETESDIRECT
Rudy Tomjanovich Official Site
Antawn Jamison Official Site
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