Outrageous Rally Propels Rockets

http://www.nba.com/games/20040207/HOUATL/recap.html

ATLANTA, Feb. 7 (Ticker) -- A change in strategy worked wonders for the Houston Rockets.

Cuttino Mobley and Steve Francis led a dramatic rally in the fourth quarter as the Rockets pulled out an 86-77 victory over the Atlanta Hawks.

For three quarters, little was going right for the Rockets as they tried to run their offense through 7-5 center Yao Ming. Yao missed his last six shots, and Houston faced a 62-51 deficit entering the fourth period.

But coach Jeff Van Gundy sat Yao early in the final quarter and went with a smaller lineup. That seemed to work as the Rockets heated up and outscored the Hawks 34-11 over the final 10:14 en route to their third straight win.

Francis scored 24 points and Mobley added 13 of his 15 in the fourth quarter. Mobley sank back-to-back 3-pointers to forge a 70-70 tie before Clarence Weatherspoon gave Houston the lead for good with his only basket of the game at the 3:03 mark.

Atlanta, which had won consecutive games for the first time this season, was held without a basket for more than six minutes. The Hawks had a 70-61 lead on Shareef Abdur-Rahim's short jumper with 7:07 to play but faced a 76-72 deficit when the drought finally ended.

 

if you're gonna flame, at least learn how to spell "THREAD."

I posted it because it's a legitimate article about the rockets, but mostly because I thought the title was funny.