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Friday November 30, 2007 0:49 AM


Warriors, Davis sprint past overwhelmed Rockets


Golden State 113, Houston 94

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Damien Pierce
Rockets.com Staff Writer
The Rockets couldn't keep pace with one of the NBA's most potent offensive teams for a second straight night.

Less than 24 hours after slowing down the Phoenix Suns for a much-needed road win, the Rockets couldn't keep up with the Golden State Warriors as Baron Davis and Co. sprinted to a 113-94 victory over the Rockets Thursday night at Oracle Arena.

The Warriors snapped Houston's three-game winning streak by canning 51.9 percent of their shots and sinking seven three-pointers. Davis set the tone, scoring a game-high 27 points to go along with eight assists and five steals.

Houston simply couldn't do anything to slow down the league's highest scoring team.

"This has been the first game all year that we have not come out with the energy we needed to," Rockets coach Rick Adelman said. "Golden State really took advantage of us. They played well, shot the ball well, and attacked us all night. It was a game where we kept making runs, but the way we were playing eventually they were going to open it up. "

The Rockets (9-8) were never really in the game after halftime.

Before the second half was five minutes old, the Warriors had extended a nine-point halftime advantage into a 19-point lead. Monta Ellis, Golden State's second leading scorer, scored six points over a 15-5 spurt to open the third quarter that essentially put the game out of the Rockets' reach.

Stephen Jackson tormented Houston's defense by slicing to the basket for 19 points, while Al Harrington stroked four three pointers on his way to an 18-point performance. Golden State's starters actually outscored Houston's starting five 91-34.

The lead would stretch to as much as 22 points before the Warriors finally pulled their starters from the lineup.

"We have been playing well the last few games, and after slowing down a team like Phoenix last night, we thought that we would be able to do a similar job," Bonzi Wells said. "Obviously, it went wrong for us, and we have to go to the drawing board with teams like this."

The biggest surprise was how the Warriors slowed down both Tracy McGrady and Yao Ming. McGrady made only 5 of 14 shots on his way to 11 points. Yao, meanwhile, tacked on a mere 10 points after netting 4 of 12 shots.

"We didn't make shots, and they did a great job at taking Yao (Ming) and myself out of the game," McGrady said. "Every time we touched the ball we had two guys hanging off us, even before we touched the ball we had two guys hanging off us. Everybody talks about how they are not a good defensive team, but for us, it's just a bad match up."

Houston did get better results from its bench as Mike James scored a season-high 19 points and Wells contributed 13 points. But with the Houston's two All-Stars offering little production, Golden State had little trouble turning the game into a rout.

Adelman didn't think his team shared the ball enough.

"We needed to play more team basketball," Adelman said. "We started playing one-on-one. We played right into their hands."

The Rockets will at least get a day off before visiting Sacramento on Saturday. After playing two of the league's fastest teams in back-to-back nights, the Rockets could use a day off. Especially after the way things went down against the Warriors.

"We have a day off, and we need to try and get three wins on this (four-game) trip," Adelman said.