Houston Roundball Review Archive: January 2007 Rockets Cruise to 21-point win over Sixers

Monday, January 29, 2007

HOUSTON, TX (Toyota Center) -- Monday night at Toyota Center, the Houston Rockets do what good teams to bad teams -- jump on them early and not let up until garbage time.

The Rockets (28-16) completely overwhelmed the Philadelphia 76ers (14-32) 105 to 84 before an announced crowd of 14,216 fans.

Houston led by as many as 41 points during the ball game.

Rafer Alston: "...shut 'em down tonight..."

Tracy McGrady led all scorers with a game-high 25 points in just 29 minutes and 40 seconds of action.

Juwan Howard added 20 points; 10 rebounds; and six assists in just 30 minutes of game time.

The Rockets led 29 to 21 at the end of the first quarter; and, during that period, Houston dished out 11 assists on their 12 made baskets.

The rout began in the second quarter as Houston raced to a 19 to 4 run in just six plus minutes.

Houston led 58 to 34 at halftime.

The Rockets continued to put the pedal to the metal in the third period as the Sixers showed no signs of life.

Houston outscored the 76ers 31 to 17 in the third to lead 89 to 51 heading to the fourth period.

The Rockets deep reserves did a poor job of maintaining the lead which head coach Jeff Van Gundy did not appreciate after the ball game.

However, as the lead lead slowly dwindled to respectability, the only drama remaining in the game was if Billy Spanoulis would get any minutes.

He did.

Spanoulis entered the game with 5:25 left in the game.

He finished the game with two points (1 for 3 shooting); two turnovers; and two rebounds.

The Rockets' 31 assists tonight were a season-high which surpassed their previous best of 30 set at Golden State (12/14/06).

Overall, the Rockets held a 31-17 (+14) margin in assists over the Sixers.

Jeff Van Gundy: "...good energy level..."

After the game T-Mac was pleased with the win; but, he said, "It looks good but..."

After the game, Sixers head coach Maurice Cheeks said, "That was a game that Houston defended us after the six-minute mark. We didn't move the ball, and they got easy shots all night. They played very good defense, and our defense wasn't where we wanted it. After the six or seven-minute mark we got down by 20 (points). Their defense was so much better than our offense; and, they made a lot of easy shots."

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