Houston trounced Orlando 114-72 today, putting an end to a verbal sparring match. Perhaps in an effort to bolster his overmatched team's confidence, Orlando coach Bob has been all over the paper and evening news predicting an easy victory. Just before gametime he said, "Records don't mean anything coming into a game like this. We all know who's the better team, and we're going to show it." These words turned out to be true, but not in the sense he had meant them.

Houston coach Bob refused to trade jabs before the game, instead leaving the job to his superior team. Afterwards, he thought Bob's strategy curious. "No offense, but if you've got the crummy team and go around saying stuff like that, you just look like an idiot. Did he think we would actually believe that garbage? Maybe he should have invested his time coming up with a game plan rather than a press conference speech."

Houston was led by Lewis (28 points, 6 boards, 0 assists), Perry (20 points, 5 boards, 0 assists, 2 blocks), Sims (12 points, 10 boards, 1 assists, 3 blocks). Orlando was led by Buchanan (14 points, 3 assists, 2 blocks), Free (10 points, a steal), Dixon (10 points, 6 boards, 1 assists, a block).

Houston jump to 33-11 and 23-2 at home with the victory. They remain at #2 in the Southwest and stay at #4 overall in the Western Conference. With today's defeat, Orlando fall to 17-27. They move down to #4 in the Southeast and fall to #11 overall in the Eastern Conference.

box score Houston roster Orlando roster