Sacramento Bee: Webber gives Francise, Yao, Rudy and the Rockets a little love

The nice comment is midway down in bold letters.


Rockets end loss string to Kings

Chris Webber's 30 points aren't enough as Houston wins for the first time in 10 games against Sacramento.

Josh Gajewski -- Special to The Bee
Published 2:15 a.m. PST Wednesday, December 11, 2002

HOUSTON -- Chris Webber did all he could to bring the Kings back from a huge halftime deficit. But he couldn't get enough help from his teammates as the Kings fell to the Rockets 103-96 Tuesday night at Compaq Center.
A second quarter in which the Kings were outscored 38-23 proved the difference as the Kings (18-6) fell to Houston for the first time in their last 10 meetings. The Kings also saw their six-game winning streak halted.

The loss, coupled with Dallas' convincing win over the Los Angeles Clippers, drops the Kings 2 1/2 games behind Dallas for the league's best record.

"They knew it was nine in a row," Webber said of the Rockets' mentality coming into the game. "They played like it, they shot like it, and their focus was up on us. I just think the team made a collective effort not to let this happen again."

Webber scored 20 of the Kings' 51 points after the break and finished with 30. But the Kings needed more -- uncharacteristically, only one other King (Bobby Jackson with 27) had more than 10 points -- on a night when they went into the break down by 17.

The Kings managed to cut the Rockets' lead to six on a Webber lay-in midway through the third quarter and then to five on his 18-foot jumper with 5:17 left in the game but never could get any closer.

"We got back in the game," Kings coach Rick Adelman said. "I don't know how many times we had a chance to cut (the lead) to four or five, but we couldn't get it down (any further) -- they always responded."

Especially Steve Francis. The star point guard often made it look like a two-man game in the second half between himself and Webber as both played tremendous basketball throughout. Francis finished with a game-high 32 points on 10-of-17 shooting.

Rockets rookie Yao Ming, meanwhile, chipped in 17 points (on 5-of-14 shooting), 15 rebounds and four blocked shots to record his fourth straight double double.

"Steve 'Franchise' is just awesome, and now he has a little help from Yao," Webber said. "Every game, (Yao) gets more and more comfortable. He is learning the game on the go, and he is playing with a great group of guys and a coach that knows how to play with a big man."

The Rockets, winners of seven straight at home, also got much help off the bench from second-year forward Eddie Griffin, who chipped in 13 points and was 3 of 4 from behind the arc.

For the game, the Kings were just 2 of 16 from the three-point line, whereas the Rockets, who reached the 100-point plateau for just the second time this season, were 7 of 14.

"We didn't get enough contributions from everyone else," Adelman said when asked about Webber, "and it caught up to us."

Case in point: The Kings welcomed Peja Stojakovic back to the lineup, but the 6-9 forward was -- like too many other Kings on Tuesday -- hugely ineffective with just 1-of-7 shooting.

"It's great having him back, but I think tonight the guys that have been doing it (lately), we kind of needed him to be (more effective)," Webber said.

"I'm really looking forward to practicing Thursday with 10 people," Adelman said. "That hasn't happened in about six weeks."