Houston Rockets Loses Their 6th in a Row.
3/22/2006 Houston-- The only thing the Houston Rockets have had going for them lately was the strong play of Yao Ming. So the main thing the Dallas Mavericks focused on Tuesday night was making him work for everything he got. And they succeeded with a win.
Yao Ming wound up being pestered into his worst game in a month, scoring only four points by halftime then taking only one shot in the third quarter of an 88-72 victory by the Mavericks. Yao finished with 13 points and 13 rebounds. It was his fewest points since scoring only six in 9 minutes against Phoenix on Feb. 16.
The Mavs sent two and three defenders at Yao, practically begging him to pass the ball to an open teammate. He did quite often, and his teammates could not hit the outside shots just like most of the games this season.
Rockets rookie Luther Head scored 16 points, Rafer Alston had 13 and Juwan Howard scored 11.
On the Mavs side, Nowitzki, who tied his season high with 37 points Sunday, already was leading the Mavs with 16 points through three quarters, then scored their first 12 points of the final period. They didn't get a point from anyone else until Jerry Stackhouse hit a pair of free throws with 4:04 left.
Stackhouse had 16 points and five assists, and Jason Terry scored 12. Dampier had nine points and nine rebounds.
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