After such a tough slump it's extremely nice to see Francis explode for a career high 32, and doing it on 13-21 shooting and 6-11 from long range. I didn't mind the 8 assists and 4 steals either. How he did all that and didn't get to the free throw line once is a bit of a mystery to me. No, I'm not picking on Bryce... he didn't really play poorly. He's just not playing much at all. On a night when Francis saw nearly every minute at the position, and Moochie saw just 7 minutes, Drew saw even less: 4 minutes. At this stage, he's the odd man out.

Midway through the fourth quarter, the Rockets held a 5-point edge on the Suns...

... but down the stretch, it was all Phoenix as Rodney Rogers and company played tough late to beat the Rockets 108-101 in the Compaq Center.

The loss snaps a 3-game Rockets winning streak, setting their record back to 24-36.

Though Rogers (15 points) was tough late, several Suns did some damage.

We thought Tom Gugliotta was off the game-enhancing herbs, but apparently not. Googs went off for 23 points, 9 boards and 5 steals. Penny Hardaway nearly had a triple double with 24 points, 10 assists and 7 boards. Cliff Robinson added 19.

It rendered moot a career-high game for Steve Francis.

Franchise went off for 32 points (career high) on 13-21 from the field -- including 6-11 from Candy Land. He also handed out 8 assists, grabbed 4 boards and picked 4 steals (though he did commit 5 turnovers) in 44 minutes of PT.

The biggest bright spot to get from the game: Perhaps Steve is really snapping out of that week+ long slump.

His backcourt partners, Shandon Anderson and Cuttino Mobley, didn't play too shabby either.

Anderson was second in command with 20 points, draining 9-15 from the floor while Mobley (who is one of Rodney Rogers' biggest competitors for the "Sixth Man" Award) added 14 points.

Hakeem Olajuwon scored 12 points and added 8 boards (team high) in 23 minutes.

The Suns held a big edge at the free throw line, hitting 24-26 (over 92%). The Rockets were 9-13 (69%) and surprisingly Francis, despite taking 21 shots, never got to the line.