Rockets-Cavaliers Preview
(Sports Network) - The Cleveland Cavaliers hope to build on one of their most impressive wins of the season when they welcome Houston to the Forest City.
Rookie star Kyrie Irving didn't have his best shooting night from the floor, but his offense down the stretch helped the Cavaliers snap Oklahoma City's 14- game home winning streak with a 96-90 win over the Thunder on Friday.
Irving scored five of his nine points in the final three minutes for Cleveland, which used a 12-0 run to put the game away.
Irving also added 12 assists, six rebounds and three steals while Antawn Jamison added 21 points and eight boards for the Cavaliers, who outrebounded the Thunder 21-8 on the offensive glass.
"Shots that I normally make were not falling, but that's okay," said Irving. "I trusted my teammates down the stretch and they hit a lot of shots and made my job a lot easier."
The Rockets, meanwhile, snapped a season-high five-game skid and improved to 1-2 of a five-game road trip by topping New Jersey, 112-106, on Saturday.
The Nets' Gerald Green inadvertently tipped the ball into his own basket with 1:03 remaining in that one, giving Houston a lead it would not relinquish.
New Jersey was up 106-105 when Green, who finished with a season-high 26 points, tipped a Courtney Lee miss into the basket. Louis Scola was credited with the bucket and the Rockets scored the game's final seven points to halt the season-long hiccup.
Goran Dragic had 23 points and eight assists in place of Houston's starting point guard Kyle Lowry, who checked into a hospital Thursday with a fever and abdominal distress. Lee added 17 points and Chandler Parsons finished with 16 points, six assists and five rebounds.
"I was so tired in the third and fourth quarters that my legs were really heavy," said Dragic. "But in the end we were battling and we won the game and tomorrow is the next game against the Cleveland Cavaliers."
Lowry, who is second on the Rockets in scoring at 15.9 points per game and leads the club with 7.2 assists, said on Twitter that he would be "out of commission for a while."
Houston, which is 7-13 on the road, will finish its trip against Western Conference-leading Oklahoma City on Tuesday of next week.
The Rockets have won three straight and four of five overall against the Cavs.
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