--F Shane Battier could not explain his shooting slump any more than the 3-pointer that interrupted it. When he hit his 3-pointer from the corner, he was as surprised as anyone. "He (Ron Artest) did a good job penetrating," said Battier, who had made two of his previous 24 3-pointers. "You could see it in his eyes, 'Oh, I don't have anywhere to go.' I was in my usual spot in the corner there.
"I saw three guys converge on me. I had no place to go but up. So I just tried to get it up and get it to the rim and it went in. The way I'm shooting lately, I'd love to tell you it felt good as soon as it left my hand, but I was mildly surprised when it went in." --Facing a Nuggets team that is seventh in the NBA in scoring, sixth in shooting percentage, the Rockets held the Nuggets to 95 points on 38.1-percent shooting. Since their loss in Milwaukee when they allowed 124 points on 52.8-percent shooting, the Rockets have gone 11-2. No opponent has shot better than 50 percent in that stretch. Five have failed to make 40 percent.
QUOTE TO NOTE: "That's a big win, huge. We're in the playoff hunt together. Those guys are one of the top teams in our conference. That's huge for us to beat a team on their home floor on the top of their division." -- Kyle Lowry.
