Wizards-Rockets Preview

By KATE HEDLIN
Posted Jan 26 2012 1:40PM

The Washington Wizards cruised to a win in Randy Wittman's first game as their head coach, but he knows they won't all be that easy.

Looking for their first road win, Wittman and the Wizards visit the Houston Rockets on Friday night.

Washington fired Flip Saunders on Tuesday after a 2-15 start, replacing him with Wittman, an assistant on Saunders' staff and former head coach in Cleveland and Minnesota.

The Wizards (3-15) won their first game under Wittman, rolling past Charlotte 92-75 on Wednesday night. They gave up their fewest points of the season and less than 100 for the first time in eight games.

Nick Young scored 20 points while Andray Blatche added 17 points and 10 rebounds.

"I can't honestly say we needed a new voice," Blatche said. "We just needed somebody to actually check us - like Wittman did. That's what we needed."

While defeating Charlotte, which fell to 3-16, may not have been a challenge, things now get more difficult. Wittman's team plays the next two on the road, where it is 0-7, then returns home to face Chicago on Monday before visiting Orlando on Wednesday.

"There's going to be periods where we fall back," Wittman said. "It's my job to get them out of it as quickly as I can."

Washington started 0-25 on the road last season. While this team hopes to avoid such a dubious mark, winning in Houston has been tough. The Wizards have lost eight of nine there and 15 of their last 17.

The Rockets (10-8) will also be eager to bounce back after their seven-game winning streak was snapped with a 105-99 loss to Milwaukee on Wednesday.

Houston seemed to be on its way to a 12th straight home victory over the Bucks after building a nine-point halftime lead, but Milwaukee outscored the Rockets 30-19 in the third quarter.

Kevin Martin scored 29 points, but Kyle Lowry was held to eight - nearly half his season average - two nights after recording a triple-double. Lowry, shooting 39.6 percent this season, missed his first 13 shots before finishing 2 of 16 from the field.

Despite the loss, the mood wasn't too somber in Houston's locker room.

"It's just one loss," Luis Scola said. "We didn't think we were going to win every game. ... It doesn't matter if we lose one game, it's the things that we did wrong that's important."

The Rockets were most frustrated with their defensive effort after allowing the Bucks to connect on 14 of 29 from 3-point range. It was the second straight home game they allowed 100 points after holding their first seven visitors to an average of 89.9 points.

"We can't win games when we play defense like that," forward Chandler Parsons said. "We have to have a much better effort on the defensive end. We made shots, so that can't be the excuse tonight."

Houston won 114-106 at the Verizon Center on Jan. 16, getting 25 points from Martin and 20 from Samuel Dalembert while overcoming John Wall's career-high 38.

Martin has scored 24.1 points per game in 11 career meetings against the Wizards. He's only averaged more (25.8) against Memphis.

Budinger, Scola lead Rockets past Wizards

By CHRIS DUNCAN
Posted Jan 28 2012 12:00AM

HOUSTON (AP) Chase Budinger stayed patient and quiet, while Houston coach Kevin McHale left him on the bench over the past three games.

With leading scorer Kevin Martin injured on Friday night, Budinger made the best of his chance to play again.

The Rockets' backup forward sank four 3-pointers and scored a season-high 21 points and Houston blew out Washington 103-76 on Friday night.

"You just have to be professional," Budinger said, "and just be ready and wait for the opportunity like I did."

Jordan Hill had 10 points and 10 rebounds for the Rockets, who scored 41 points off Washington's season-high 24 turnovers. Courtney Lee scored eight points for Houston in place of Martin, who sat out with plantar fasciitis in his right foot.

McHale has been steadily trying to tighten Houston's rotation, and Budinger was an odd man out after averaging only 7.1 points through the first 15 games.

"I told him that in our league, a lot of times, things just happen," McHale said. "He stayed ready and he's a professional man."

Budinger didn't vent, and continued to practice with a hopeful mindset.

"I like to play, I like to be out there on the court with my teammates," he said. "It really just comes down to what the coach wants."

Luis Scola scored 10 of his 19 points in the third quarter when Houston pulled away.

The Wizards had 10 turnovers in the last 18 minutes, helping Houston outscore them 46-21 over that span to win for the eighth time in nine games.

John Wall had 17 points, eight rebounds and six assists for Washington, playing its second game under Randy Wittman.

"I think we get tired and we lose our concentration and we throw the ball all over the gym," Wittman said. "For 30 minutes, we played hard, smart, for the most part, we got after it. The bad thing about that is that it's a 48-minute game."

The Rockets started slowly for the second straight home game, shooting 26 percent (6 of 23) and scoring a season-low 17 points in the first quarter. Wall had eight points and two assists in the quarter, and Washington built a 7-point lead.

Lee swished a mid-range jumper early in the second quarter to start a 16-4 Houston run. The Wizards aided Houston with five turnovers in the first six minutes of the quarter.

Budinger sank two 3-pointers and scored 11 points in the first half to help the Rockets lead 44-41 at the break.

"I just came in and wanted to be active," said Budinger, who also had eight rebounds. "That's what my whole goal was, to make an impact in the game."

Samuel Dalembert dunked, then blocked two shots early in the third quarter, as Houston protected its slim lead. Kyle Lowry's free throws with 7:45 left in the quarter put the Rockets up 55-49, their biggest lead to that point.

Washington stalled its own rallies by continuing to cough up turnovers. The Rockets outscored Washington 21-7 in the last six minutes of the quarter, converting four turnovers into eight points.

"We were close, and then turned the ball over consistently," Wall said. "They got way too many points off of our turnovers. We gave them too many easy shots, and we let Scola do whatever he wanted."

Goran Dragic's straight-on 3-pointer with 42 seconds left in the quarter gave Houston a 78-62 lead heading to the fourth. Budinger swished another 3 early in the last quarter as the lead swelled over 20.

"That's tough," Wall said, "but in the NBA, when you miss a lot of shots, it gets very ugly."

The Wizards went scoreless through the first five minutes of the quarter, going 0-for-10 from the field, before Nick Young's mid-range jumper with 6:45 remaining trimmed the deficit to 93-64.

Not long after that, McHale was tapping deep into his bench, with former D-League star Jeff Adrien, seldom-used guard Terrence Williams and center Hasheem Thabeet on the floor for the final minutes.

NOTES: Houston held a double-digit lead for the 12th consecutive game. It's the Rockets' longest streak since 2008, when they had double-digit leads in 20 straight games during their 22-game winning streak. ... The Rockets have won 19 consecutive games when holding their opponent below 90 points. ... The Wizards were outrebounded 55-44 and dropped to 0-12 when losing the rebound margin this season. ... The Rockets' winning margin was a season high. ... Wizards F Kevin Seraphin sat out after getting six teeth pulled on Thursday, Wittman said.

Notebook: Rockets 103, Wizards 76

By Matt Miller, for NBA.com
Posted Friday January 27, 2012 11:44PM

THE FACTS: Chase Budinger had not played in three consecutive games, falling out of the Houston Rockets' rotation for the first time in his two-plus seasons in the NBA. But after leading scorer Kevin Martin was diagnosed with plantar fasciitis and could not play Friday, Budinger was ready to step into the lineup and display a high level of professionalism.

Budinger scored a season-high 21 points on 8-for-14 shooting and grabbed a season-best eight rebounds, and the Rockets dismantled the turnover-prone Washington Wizards, 103-76, on Friday at Toyota Center. Luis Scola added 19 points and eight boards for Houston (11-8), which has won eight of its last nine games and improved to 8-2 at home.

John Wall paced the Wizards' attack with 17 points, eight rebounds and six assists, but he committed a team-high five turnovers in a sloppy, uninspired performance for Washington (3-16). The Wizards fell to 0-8 on the road this season, losing these eight contests by an average of 19.6 points.

QUOTABLE: "[Chase's performance] had nothing to do with anybody besides himself and making himself ready. That's really impressive."
-- Houston coach Kevin McHale on Budinger's professionalism.

THE STAT: The Rockets made Washington pay for making ill-advised passes and not protecting the ball, scoring 41 points off the Wizards' season-high 24 turnovers. Washington has allowed an average of 29.0 points off 23.5 turnovers per game over its last two contests, committing at least 23 turnovers in each game.

TURNING POINT: The Wizards trailed by only two points, 57-55, just past the midway point of the third period before Houston finished the quarter on a 21-7 run to put the game out of reach. Washington shot itself in its collective feet with careless mistakes and odd shot selection, as the Rockets netted 10 points off five Wizards turnovers and held Washington to only two baskets in 12 possessions during their spurt.

QUOTABLE II: "We were our own worst enemies. We were throwing cross-court passes from one side of the floor to the other, and you can't even get away with that in high school without a steal. We want to run, but we have to take care of the ball."
-- Wizards coach Randy Wittman on Washington's mental errors.

HOT: Scola has posted efficient numbers of late, finishing Friday's game with 19 points on 8-for-13 shooting to go with eight rebounds and three assists. In his last seven games, Scola has averaged 15.6 points on 56.3 percent (45-for-80) shooting and 5.7 rebounds (1.6 offensive).

NOT: Andray Blatche made little impact on this game aside from his three steals. Including Friday's two-point outing on 1-for-6 shooting, Blatche has been limited to an average of 8.4 points on 32.7 percent (16-for-49) shooting and 6.4 boards over his last five games.

GOOD MOVE: With Martin unavailable, the Rockets turned their focused offensively toward feeding Scola in the post to take advantage of his matchup with rookie forward Jan Vesely. Vesley gave a solid effort on defense, but it simply was not nearly enough to slow down the veteran forward's versatile post game.

BAD MOVE: After allowing Wall to complete several one-man fast breaks when these teams met Jan. 16 in Washington, the Rockets made the same mistake again for most of the first half of Friday's game. Aside from Samuel Dalembert, Houston's players continued to bail out defensively instead of at least attempting to cut off Wall's drives to the hoop. At times, it appeared Wall was simply a speeding bullet that the Rockets were willing to do anything to avoid.

NOTABLE: Martin is unlikely to play in Saturday's game against the Knicks. ... The Wizards played without reserve forward Kevin Seraphin, who had his wisdom teeth removed Thursday. ... Washington allowed 18 points off nine turnovers in the third quarter alone. ... Blatche remains eight points shy of 4,000 for his career. ... Only one of the Wizards' eight road defeats have come by less than 14 points. ... The Rockets have won 11 of their last 13 meetings with Washington. ... The Wizards fell to 0-12 this season when their opponent snatches more rebounds. ... Houston improved to 7-0 when limiting opponents to less than 90 points and 7-0 when it scores at least 100. ... The Rockets, who beat Washington on the boards 55-44, have grabbed at least 10 more boards than their opponent in three games this season. ... Houston's 27-point margin of victory is its largest of the season. ... The Rockets scored a season-high 34 points in the third quarter and collected a season-best 12 steals. ... Houston has built a double-digit lead in 12 consecutive games.

UP NEXT: For the Wizards, Saturday @ Charlotte, Monday vs. Chicago (NBA TV), Wednesday @ Orlando. For the Rockets, Saturday vs. New York, Monday vs. Minnesota, Wednesday @ San Antonio.

• Wizards: N'Diaye, Turiaf
• Rockets: Martin, Morris

• Wizards: Booker
• Rockets: --

• Lead Changes: 7
• Times Tied: 5

• Arena: Toyota Center, Houston, TX
• Officials: #41 Ken Mauer, #26 Pat Fraher, #63 Derek Richardson
• Attendance: 13894
• Duration: 2:12