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.
Big difference in the game was from the free throw line. The Pacers hit 25-27 (93%) while the Rockets were 10-14.