Houston Rockets 114 – Washington Wizards 107 (Recap)

Credit: Geoff Burke-USA TODAY Sports

After a leak delay that lasted over 50 minutes, the Houston Rockets went up 25 and let the Washington Wizards come all the way back, but regrouped and pull out the win 114-107.

First the MCI Center began to leak early in the 2nd quarter, and after a 35 minute delay the Rockets got 7 straight points for Omri Casspi, and outscored the Wizards 34-17 in the quarter. Omri finished with 14 points of the bench.

Houston got up by 25 points, but once again let empty possessions and turnovers ruin the easy win letting Washington back into the game. With 3 minutes left in the 4th quarter Washington had fought back and lead by 5 points. James Harden was called on to save the day, and scored 8 points down the stretch. Harden finished with  25 points, 8 rebounds, and 5 assists. Jeremy Lin was aggressive the entire night, taking the ball to the basket, and it lead to 18 points and 8 assists.

Terrance Jones is making a case for Most Improved Player with a 19 point, 17 rebound, 3 block night.

Dwight Howard drew his 5th foul with 7 minutes to go and the Wizards in the mist of their comeback run. Rockets head coach Kevin McHale stuck with Howard and his defense down the stretch kept John Wall and the Wizards scoreless, while the Rockets went on a 10-0 run. Howard finished with 23 points, and 7 rebounds.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TJ5xcHI5E18

Tonight was the Rockets largest lead against anybody since beating the Golden State Warriors by 28 on December 6th.

The Rockets record is now 24-14 with their next opponent being the Boston Celtics in Boston on Monday.