"We found a way to win," Kevin McHale mentioned after the game. "It wasn’t pretty. We out rebounded them. We stayed small all night. We had 16 offensive rebounds and the guys scrap. Right now we’re not in a great rhythm on either side of the ball, but we’ll find it. We showed spurts of it; the 68 points in the first half was nice and then we kind of fell back to old habits."

The Rockets (2-3) and Magic (1-4) were in defense optional mode in the first quarter. 

Orlando led 35-34 at the end of the first period; but, the Rockets outscored the Magic 34-24 in the second quarter and led 68-59 at halftime.

The Rockets' offense slowed down in the third quarter; and, as a result, the team made only eight field goals (out of 22 attempts) in the period which enabled the Magic to outscore the Rockets 29-22 in quarter.

The fourth period was nip-and-tuck the final 8:37 of the fourth period. The lead changed eight times in the quarter and included four ties.

James Harden struggled in the fourth quarter: Harden made just 1 of 5 field goals and turned over the ball three times. Harden had a chance to give the Rockets a three point lead with 47.5 seconds remaining in the quarter; but, he split two free throws for a 110-108 lead.

Next, with 12 seconds on the game clock, Corey Brewer missed two free throws which would have given the Rockets a four point lead (112-108); however, after the second missed free throw, Orlando's Evan Fournier attacked the basket and picked up the fourth foul on James Harden.

Fournier made both free throws to tie the game at 110 and send the game to overtime.

Dwight Howard scored the first 2 points of the extra five minutes; then, Harden scored a running lay-up for a 114-110 Rockets' lead.

Houston led 117-114 with 2:31 remaining in overtime; then, both teams went cold until 1.8 seconds remained when Harden rebounded a missed three-point shot by Shabazz Napier. Harden made both free throws to ice the game.

Harden scored a team-high 28 points; but, he only made 6 of his 22 field goal attempts - including an ice cold 2 for 11 from the three point line.

Dwight Howard scored 23 points and pulled down 14 rebounds. Howard was a perfect 10-for-10 from the floor.

"I didn’t even think about it," Howard said after the game. "I‘m just happy that we won the game. I thought we played great as a team tonight. We moved the ball. My teammates found me in great spots and I was happy about that, but most importantly, we got the dub (win) and were going to continue to get better. So, I’m not into what I did tonight as far as percentage, but what I am into is winning games and playing good defense. We gotta good win and I am happy to be in the same company as Yao Ming."

Note: Yao Ming has the franchise record for most field goals made (12) without a miss in a game.