The Rockets felt good for three quarters of the game until the Bobcats imposed their defensive will on the Rockets. Houston made it a close game (89-88) with a little over three minutes left in the game but Stephen Jackson maintained his torrid offense against the Rockets, scoring 16 of his 43 points in the fourth quarter. Jackson put on a scoring exhibition the Rockets would have like to missed! The Bobcats prevailed with their trade mark defense and an offensive show we’ve all waited for from Jackson. The win lets the Bobcats (17-19) keep pace in the East and take another step towards a .500 record. The lose drops the Rockets to 21-17 for this season.

Carl Landry and the Houston Rockets came to town (1/12/10) for a game with our Bobcats. The Rockets started the game with a 21-16 record and held the seventh position in the Western Conference. The Rockets are on a four-game road losing streak.

The Bobcats began the game with a 16-19 record and held the seventh position in the Eastern Conference. The Bobcats are coming off a last-second win over the Memphis Grizzlies and wanted to maintain their (13-4) strong home record.

The first quarter was a back-and-forth game. Stephen Jackson led the Bobcats with 15 points. The Rockets had 27 shots to the Bobcats 16 shots. First quarter ends with Houston in front 34-29.

The Rockets extended their lead to 13 points before the Bobcats cut it back to 10 points when the second quarter ended. The half-time score was Rockets 60-50 over the Bobcats.

The Bobcats started the third quarter strong, cutting the Rockets lead to 2 (74-72), before the quarter ended with the Rockets holding a slight edge (77-74). This was a very strong push for the Bobcats going into the fourth quarter. The third quarter also had a nice alley-oop from Jackson to Wallace (maybe a high-light on NBATV?).

Fourth quarter action saw the Bobcats take the lead (82-81) at the 7:32 mark. The Bobcats maintained control through the remainder of the fourth quarter, never losing their lead.

The Good:
Stephen Jackson led all scorers at the half with 23 and all scorers with a game-high 43. N. Mohammed had 6 points and 5 rebounds in the first half (10:21 minutes). The Bobcats took control defensively in the second half. Flip Murray with 14 points off the bench. Boris Diaw with 19 points and 6 assist.

The Mediocre:
The Rockets controlled the pace and out-rebounded the Bobcats 22-19 in the first half. Diaw and Wallace with 4 turn-overs each.

The Ugly:
Gerald Wallace was shut down in the first half with only 3 points and 4 rebounds and the game with 9 points and 8 rebounds. This was not the kind of game we’ve come to expect from “Crash”.

Next game for the Bobcats: Friday 1/15 7:00pm versus the San Antonio Spurs on FS Carolinas