Rockets top Magic, 107-94

Posted: March 17, 2015 -- 11:25 pm.

HOUSTON, TX (Toyota Center) -- The Houston Rockets outscored the Orlando Magic 13-2 in the final 4:42 of Tuesday's ball game and earned a 107-94 win.

Donatas Motiejunas led six Rockets' players in double-digits with 23 points. Trevor Ariza, James Harden, and Josh Smith each scored 17 points. Corey Brewer added 13 points and 12 rebounds while Patrick Beverley chipped 12 points and seven assists.

The Rockets (45-22) trailed Orlando 78-71 late in the third quarter; but, Josh Smith made a corner three-point shot to trim the deficit to four points. Then, after Orlando guard Victor Oladipo missed a jump shot with five seconds remaining in the quarter, Smith caught a pass from Corey Brewer and banked in a three-point shot to beat the third quarter buzzer.

Smith's six points in 35 seconds gave the Rockets a boost of positive energy heading into the fourth quarter.

"Huge. We had no momentum at that time," Kevin McHale said after the game. "We couldn't stop them and they were feeling good about themselves. Josh's two 3's at the end of the third were huge."

James Harden seconded McHale's comments about Smith's three-point buckets.

"Huge momentum. Huge momentum going into that fourth quarter," Harden added. "I think we were down five or so. Those two 3s give us confidence going into the fourth quarter. It gives us momentum and we carried over from there."

Smith and Brewer keyed a 12-6 spurt to put the Rockets ahead 89-84 with 7:56 left in the fourth period. However, Oladipo scored six of Orlando's next eight points to stay within two (94-92) with 4:42 on the clock.

Patrick Beverley swished a three-point shot to boost the lead to five; then, after the Magic played solid defense for 23 seconds, Corey Brewer sank a three-point shot which beat the shot clock buzzer and gave the Rockets an eight point (100-92) lead with 3:07 remaining.

The Rockets' defense was much more aggressive and active in the fourth quarter which helped limit Orlando to just seven made field goals out of 19 attempts in the final period.

"We got some steals. Our defense picked up," McHale said. "We were able to get out and run. Up to that point, we hadn't been able to stop them. They were getting in the paint,driving it down on us. Our defense picked up."

Smith added, "I think that we did a great job in that fourth quarter at locking down defensively and focusing on what we needed to do in order to try to get those guys out of the paint and also, just get to the rebound and not give them second chance points and get out on the break a little bit."

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