Rockets’ Jeff Takes Lead in Battle of Van Gundys

They had already competed long and hard at pingpong and checkers. After all those years, Jeff and Stan Van Gundy finally faced each other as basketball coaches.

In only the second time in NBA history that brothers coached against each other, Jeff’s Houston Rockets defeated Stan’s Miami Heat, 90-70, Tuesday night at Houston.

Not only did Jeff beat his brother, the Rockets handed the Heat its second worst loss in a string of seven consecutive defeats to open the season. Miami is the only winless team in the NBA.

The Van Gundys joined Herb and Larry Brown as the only brothers to coach against each other in the NBA.

“I almost feel guilty,” Jeff said. “It’s like, why were you blessed with talent and he wasn’t? There was a huge talent discrepancy and huge size discrepancy, which we’re happy about, but we’re going to have to play better to continue to win.”

The players realized it wasn’t a regular game.

“You think about that kind of thing,” Miami’s Brian Grant said. “Coach didn’t say anything of that nature, getting a win because of his brother. But the players knew. Of course we’re down. It’s wearing on everybody, not just the coach.”

Cuttino Mobley led the Rockets with a season-high 30 points, and Yao Ming blocked a career-high seven shots and had 16 points and eight rebounds.

Philadelphia 112, Washington 105 -- Allen Iverson had a season-high 40 points, winning a scoring duel with Gilbert Arenas, who scored 36 points, and leading the 76ers at Washington.

Sacramento 97, Detroit 91 -- Mike Bibby had 23 points and five assists, and the Kings ended the Pistons’ five-game winning streak.

The Kings, coming off a 1-3 trip, overcame a sluggish fourth quarter to beat Detroit for the seventh consecutive time at Arco Arena and ninth out of 10 to begin an eight-game homestand.

Seattle 89, Minnesota 87 -- Ronald Murray made a jumper over Latrell Sprewell at the buzzer at Minneapolis, capping a career-high 29-point performance. Murray also had six rebounds and eight assists to help the SuperSonics end a nine-game losing streak in Minnesota.

Dallas 125, New Orleans 97 -- Steve Nash made his five three-point shots and sparked the Mavericks’ 23-2 third-quarter run at Dallas.

Nash finished with 17 points and 11 assists in Dallas’ most lopsided victory this season.

Boston 78, Indiana 76 -- Vin Baker scored on a fallaway jumper in the lane with 20 seconds left to lift the Celtics at Indianapolis.

Portland 83, Toronto 80 -- Zach Randolph had 18 points and 11 rebounds to help the Trail Blazers overcome 33 points by Vince Carter at Portland.