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Friday, Jan. 26 8:30pm ET
Francis has plenty of help beating Grizzlies

RECAP | BOX SCORE | GAME FLOW

HOUSTON (AP) -- The Vancouver Grizzlies kept Steve Francis from scoring, but they couldn't stop the rest of the Houston Rockets.

Francis had 13 points, 12 assists and 10 rebounds for his second career triple-double as Houston beat Vancouver Grizzlies 106-89 Friday night.

Francis only took 11 shots, as the Rockets got contributions from many other sources. Cuttino Mobley scored 23 points and had 10 rebounds and Hakeem Olajuwon, in his first start since Dec. 30, had 17 points for the Rockets.

Moochie Norris had 13 points, Maurice Taylor added 12 and Walt Williams 11 as Houston snapped a three-game losing streak.

"I wanted to shoot more," Francis said. "But it just wasn't there. And our guys were all open. I knew they were double-teaming me and that left everybody else open."

Francis' other triple-double came against Golden State on Jan. 27, 2000, almost exactly one year ago.

"I thought he played under control tonight," Vancouver coach Sidney Lowe said. "Our game plan was to not let him get off. And he didn't force the issue. He made the right plays and ran the floor well. I give him a lot of credit for being patient tonight."

Michael Dickerson scored 25 and Shareef Abdur-Rahim added 17 for the Grizzlies, who have lost seven straight overall and 12 consecutive on the road. Mike Bibby added 14 and Damon Jones had 10.

"It's times like these that shows what you're made of," Abdur-Rahim said. "We can either lay down or we can fight like men. We've put ourselves in this position."

The Rockets used a pair of 12-2 runs in the second quarter to take a 59-49 lead at halftime.

With Olajuwon scoring four quick points, Houston outscored Vancouver 8-2 the first two minutes of the third to open a 67-51 lead. The lead grew to 26 with 47 seconds left in the quarter. The Grizzlies never got closer than 14 the rest of the game.

"It's disappointing when you have guys 6-9 and 6-10 and (6-1) Moochie Norris gets the offensive rebound on a missed free throw," Lowe said. "On some plays, we didn't even leave the floor. If the guys are tired, I wish they would tell me because it's inexcusable to do that."

Francis, who had to leave for more than four minutes of the second quarter to get a sore ankle retaped, completed the triple-double with 6:57 left in the game. He went to the locker room for good with 5:55 to play.

"He's having a great year," Rockets coach Rudy Tomjanovich said. "He does so much in so many categories. And he's not only good, he's fun to watch. He read the defenses early and really took command."

Game notes
Olajuwon came off the injured list Wednesday but didn't start against Philadelphia. ... Francis is the first player in the NBA to get 250 rebounds and 250 assists this season. ... The combined 70 points by which the Grizzlies lost their previous two games (37 points to Dallas on Thursday and 33 to San Antonio Tuesday) were the highest two-game margin of defeat in franchise history. The previous record came in January 1997 when they lost to Detroit and Utah by 62.
ALSO SEE
NBA Scoreboard

Vancouver Clubhouse

Houston Clubhouse

RECAPS
Philadelphia 105
Detroit 89

Washington 106
Atlanta 99

Boston 99
Phoenix 83

Houston 106
Vancouver 89

Seattle 107
Golden State 105

LA Lakers 113
New Jersey 101

FROM
ATHLETESDIRECT

Rudy Tomjanovich Official Site

Mike Bibby Official Site


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