The AP reports: Kobe Bryant scored 18 of his 37 points in the fourth quarter and the Los Angeles Lakers ended Houston’s 12-game home winning streak with a 102-96 victory. Artest, the fiery forward who’s one of Houston’s top 1-on-1 defenders, used all of his tactics in vain to stop Bryant in the final quarter. He also had a dismal offensive night, scoring only 11 points on 4-for-16 shooting with six turnovers… Pau Gasol scored 20 points and Josh Powell added 17 for the Lakers, who overcame the absence of Lamar Odom to snap a three-game road losing streak… Reserve Von Wafer scored 20 points for the Rockets, who’ve lost all three meetings with the Lakers this season.
Category: Houston Rockets Blog
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NBA suspends Lamar Odom one game
Lamar Odom of the Los Angeles Lakers has been suspended one game without pay for leaving the immediate vicinity of the bench during an altercation, it was announced today by Stu Jackson, NBA Executive Vice President, Basketball Operations.
The incident occurred with two seconds remaining in the third quarter of the Portland Trail Blazers’ 111-94 victory over the Lakers at Rose Garden in Portland last night.
Odom will serve his suspension tomorrow night when the Lakers face the Houston Rockets at Toyota Center.
NBA rules state that players who are benched at the time of an altercation must stay there.
A Lakers-Rockets matchup is always worth watching. Houston has done very well despite not having aging star shooting guard Tracy McGrady, and Los Angeles has looked terrific despite not having young-and-upcoming, starting center Andrew Bynum.
Without Odom, some responsibility to step up falls on the shoulders of Ariza, Josh Powell and DJ Mbenga.
Artest scores 22, Rockets beat Nuggets 97-95
The AP reports: The Denver Nuggets are starting to see the storm clouds closing in on them. Even the brief return of Kenyon Martin from a bad back couldn’t snap them out of their funk as the Nuggets lost for the eighth time in 11 games Monday night, this time 97-95 to the Houston Rockets… Denver had a chance to tie idle Utah atop the Northwest Division after losing their grip on first place 24 hours earlier with a disheartening loss at Sacramento. But they fell behind by 19 points in the third quarter and couldn’t overcome big games by Ron Artest (22 points) and Aaron Brooks (19)… Nene shot 4-for-15, falling behind Shaquille O’Neal for the league lead in shooting percentage.
Yao rocks, Rockets beat Grizzlies 93-83
The AP reports: The Houston Rockets got the easy win they needed before the challenging week to come. Yao Ming had 24 points, 17 rebounds and three blocks and the Rockets extended their home-court winning streak to 12 games with a 93-83 win over the Memphis Grizzlies on Sunday. Luis Scola added 18 points and 14 rebounds for the Rockets, who inched ahead of Utah and New Orleans for fourth place in the Western Conference. Now comes the hard part, with games this week against Denver, the Los Angeles Lakers and San Antonio… Rudy Gay scored 21 points and Marc Gasol added 18 for the Grizzlies, who’ve lost 10 of 11 and seven of their last eight road games. O.J. Mayo, the Grizzlies’ leading scorer, had only 10 points on 4-for-13 shooting after scoring 32 in Memphis’ 104-93 win over Houston on Feb. 4… Kyle Lowry, the Grizzlies’ first-round draft pick in 2006, had nine assists for the Rockets.
Brooks’ career night carries Rockets over Suns
The AP reports: Forget Yao Ming vs. Shaquille O’Neal. Aaron Brooks and Steve Nash put on the real show in Houston on Friday night. Brooks scored a career-high 30 points and drove past O’Neal for the winning basket in the Rockets’ 116-112 win over the Phoenix Suns. Nash shook off a poor first half to score a season-high 32 points, but the Suns dropped their fourth straight road game. O’Neal scored 17 on his 37th birthday for Phoenix, which slipped three games behind Dallas in the race for the No. 8 playoff spot in the West… Nash went 1-for-10 from the field in the first half and said he was bothered by the sprained right ankle that kept him out three games. He went 13-for-17 with nine assists in the second half, single-handedly keeping Phoenix close.
Rockets freeze ticket prices
The Houston Chronicle reports: Rockets season-ticket prices will be frozen or reduced for 98 percent of tickets for the 2009-10 season, CEO Tad Brown said on Thursday, a day before renewal forms will be mailed to current season-ticket holders. Citing the impact of the recession, Brown said that prices for more than 20 percent of tickets currently selling for between $22 and $200, with most in the $40 to $200 range, will be reduced, with some prices cut by roughly 20 percent.
Yao Ming angry at NBA refs
The Houston Chronicle (Jonathan Feigen) reports (via blog): “You know what, I had two offensive fouls tonight, three last night, two at the Minnesota game … and you can go on,” Yao Ming said. “Every time a defender player is on the ground, even if he just wants to sit down and have a rest, it’s my offensive foul. That’s unfair. “Why? If I’m on the defensive side and I’m in the same position, the foul is on us. They can’t call it two ways. When I try to post up and they have a head on my shoulder and lean on me and lean on my elbow and try to push me out and have the knee and have the two hands, and no call. I know I have 300 pounds. But the same way people push me, maybe it doesn’t affect much, but I have to really, really limit my strength to push back. “I guess I don’t need to worry about a flopper the next game. I don’t think Shaq is that type of player.”
Boozer, D-Will lead Jazz over Rockets 101-94
The AP reports: Carlos Boozer had his best game since returning after missing three months with a knee injury, scoring 20 points and pulling down 17 rebounds as the Utah Jazz increased their winning streak to nine with a 101-94 win over the Houston Rockets on Wednesday… Deron Williams scored 10 of his 26 points in the fourth quarter, including a 20-foot jumper with 21 seconds left after Houston got within three points. Williams also had 14 assists for the surging Jazz, who went 17-for-17 from the foul line and won their 10th straight home game. Ron Artest scored 25 points to lead Houston and Yao Ming had 19 points, seven rebounds and six assists before fouling out with 1:23 left.
Miami Heat sign Luther Head
The Miami Heat announced today that they have signed free agent guard Luther Head. Per team policy, terms of the deal were not disclosed.
“We are pleased to announce that we have signed Luther Head,” said Heat President Pat Riley. “Luther will bring us a prototype combo guard that can both handle the ball and shoot with tremendous proficiency. This is a positive step for the Miami Heat.”
Head, a 6’3”, 185-pound guard, has appeared in 22 games (four starts) this season for the Houston Rockets and averaged 4.8 points, 1.6 assists and 1.2 rebounds in 14.6 minutes of action while shooting 38.6 percent from the field, 36.8 percent from three-point range and 87.5 percent from the free throw line. In his four starts this season, he averaged 8.8 points, 3.5 rebounds, 3.3 assists, 1.25 steals and 25.8 minutes.
Playing in his fourth NBA season, the former first round draft pick (24th overall) of the 2005 NBA Draft has appeared in 255 career games (58 starts) and averaged 8.8 points, 2.7 rebounds, 2.3 assists and 0.80 steals in 24.4 minutes while shooting 42.2 percent from the field, 39.2 percent from beyond the arc and 76.6 percent from the line. He finished his Houston career among the best Rockets shooters in franchise history as he placed fourth in career three-point field goal percentage and eight in all-time three-point field goals made (383).
Head will wear number 13.
The Heat roster now currently stands at 15.
Read NBA fan reaction and discuss your own opinion in this forum topic.
Landry scores 22, Rockets beat Raptors 107-97
The AP reports: Carl Landry matched a career high with 22 points, Luis Scola added 20 points and 16 rebounds and the Rockets extended their home-court winning streak to 10 games with a 107-97 victory over the Toronto Raptors on Tuesday night. Yao Ming added 20 points and 11 rebounds, but struggled at times against Toronto big men Chris Bosh and Andrea Bargnani. That created opportunities for Landry and Scola, two energetic forwards who combined for 22 points and 11 rebounds in the second half to help Houston pull away… Bosh and Bargnani scored 25 points apiece and Jose Calderon matched a career high with 16 assists for the Raptors, who’ve lost seven of their last eight road games.