Got to give Old Round Mound his due. After taking abuse from the BBS regulars as a cancer to the team, Barkley pronounced the Rockets "Steve Francis' team" and then went out and grabbed a whopping 24 rebounds to go along with 18 points on 7-12 from the field. Damn fine game for the Chuckster. That's three games in a row now Cat has been rocked. Shandon Anderson continues to start, and continues to get less than 20 minutes a game (17). Cat got the bulk of the PT again (30 minutes) and shot just 2-10 from the field. He was 0-3 from long-range, where the Rockets were an anemic 3-17 as a team.

Can you name the team that has a winning record on the road, yet hasn't won a single game at home?

The answer: The Houston Rockets.

The Rocks dropped to 0-5 at home (2-6 overall) Monday with a 96-87 loss to the Indiana Pacers.

They never should have lost in the first place. Leading 67-62 heading into the fourth quarter, the Rockets saw it all slip away as the Pacers took off on a 17-4 run and never really looked back.

It wasted a great game from Charles Barkley, who snared an astounding 24 rebounds, 9 of which came on the offensive glass (second straight game he's gotten 9 offensive boards). Chuck also hit 7-12 from the field for 18 points.

Ditto (18 points) for Steve Francis as well, who hit 8-17 from the floor, dished out 12 assists, grabbed 6 boards and turned it over 4 times. The assists alone are fantastic -- hopefully we'll continue to see more improvement from Francis.

Hakeem Olajuwon scored 18 points on 9-21 shooting, 5 boards, 2 blocks and 5 turnovers.

The rest of the Rockets were really non-factors as Cuttino Mobley struggled (5 points, 2-10 shooting), Shandon Anderson was insignificant in little action (4 points in 17 minutes) and Bryce Drew/Carlos Rogers had games they'd like to forget.