Houston Rockets Team Report - April 4

(Basketball News) - Houston starts an important four-game road trip on Tuesday against the Golden State Warriors at The Arena in Oakland. The Rockets will also face the Los Angeles Lakers, Phoenix Suns and Seattle SuperSonics on the current swing.

It will be the third and final meeting of the season between the Rockets and Warriors. In the two previous contests, Houston defeated the Warriors on December 17th at the Toyota Center and on March 14th at The Arena. The home team has won five of the last six meetings in this series. Houston has won five of seven and eight of the last 11 contests. The Rockets have won 16 of their last 18 at Golden State.

Houston is No. 6 in the Western Conference playoff race and trails the Sacramento Kings by 1/2 game for the fifth spot.

The Rockets will try and put the brakes on a two-game losing streak when they face the Warriors. On Sunday, All-Star Shawn Marion scored 23 points and pulled down 18 rebounds to lead the Suns over Houston, 91-78, at the Toyota Center.

Yao Ming collected 19 points and 12 assists in the loss to Phoenix to lead the Rockets, while Ryan Bowen added 14 points and Tracy McGrady scored 13 on just 6-of-21 shooting for Houston.

Houston, which has lost three of its last five overall, is 38-18 when it allows under 100 points this season. The Rockets have allowed under 100 points in 21 of their last 24 games.

Yao has scored in double-digits in 64 of the 71 games that he has played in this season. He is averaging 16.5 points and 7.4 rebounds in his last 10 contests.

The Rockets are a solid 22-15 on the road this season. They will split the final eight games of their season evenly between the Toyota Center and the road.