In the End, Rockets Glide to a Victory Over Clippers

The struggling Houston Rockets finally found someone they could beat.

Clyde Drexler scored nine of his 24 points in the fourth quarter--all from the foul line--and had 11 assists Tuesday night as Houston held off the Clippers, 107-97.

It was only the second win in the last six games for Houston, which can’t shake away from the .500 mark. The Clippers, losers of 21 of their last 24, dropped their sixth consecutive road game.

“They played with a lot of emotion and intensity, but I thought we controlled the tempo of the game very well,” said Drexler, who was a perfect 13 of 13 on free throws, one short of tying a 29-year-old club record. “As a team, our main problem has been maintaining a steady level of consistency.”

Kevin Willis added 21 points, and Hakeem Olajuwon scored 18 and had 15 rebounds to set a Rockets record by appearing in his 1,003rd game.

“It’s a big accomplishment,” Olajuwon said. “I remember my rookie year and the two championship years and this year.

“Well, not even this year,” he laughed. “This last month, maybe.”

Olajuwon’s 1,003rd game as a Rocket moved him ahead of Calvin Murphy.

“We start playing well and then we fall apart as a team,” lamented the Clippers’ Isaac Austin, who had 16 points and 12 rebounds. “We’re playing hard as a team, but we are just not focused and we are making crazy plays on the court.”

Houston’s Charles Barkley was ejected with 41.8 seconds remaining in the first quarter, picking up back-to-back technical fouls for his comments to officials after a goaltending call against Willis. He played only three minutes.

“Whatever it was, it didn’t need to be said,” Houston Coach Rudy Tomjanovich said of Barkley’s comments.

Barkley was not in the locker room after the game.

The Clippers, led by 27 points from Rodney Rogers, trailed 99-91 with 2:44 to go when a three-point shot by Eddie Johnson put the game away.

The Clippers never led, but they rallied from an early 17-point deficit, using a 12-2 run to start the second half and tie the game at 58 on a basket by Lamond Murray, who finished with 17. It was tied two more times before Houston’s Matt Maloney made a three-pointer and Willis and then Maloney again connected with field goals to put the Rockets ahead to stay, 69-62.

A 12-6 Clipper run to close out the third period, keyed by three-pointers by Murray and Darrick Martin, pulled the Clippers to 75-74 before Houston pulled away in the final quarter.

“We wasted all that third quarter,” Clipper Coach Bill Fitch said.

The Rockets led by as many as 17 points in the first half before the Clippers went on a 13-6 spurt to trail 56-46 at halftime.

“Their young legs on the offensive boards put them back into the game,” Tomjanovich said. “They are so young and lively.”

The Clippers were without their top rebounder, Lorenzen Wright, who before the game went on the injured list because of a sprained left ankle. Wright had been averaging more than 16 rebounds over his last eight games and 9.2 per game for the season.