WILL THE LOSING EVER END?

ROCKETS EXTEND WASHINGTON'S L STREAK TO 16

The Houston Rockets weren't great on Tuesday night, but pretty good was enough to beat a Washington Wizards team that hasn't won in more than a month. Rookie Chase Budinger hit a go-ahead jump shot with 28 seconds remaining and made two free throws to help the Rockets escape with a 98-94 win over the struggling Wizards. The win breaks a four-game skid for the Rockets and extends Washington's team-record losing streak to 16 games. "It was harder than we expected, but we were very short-handed," Houston's Luis Scola said. "Washington was trying to get a win to stay away from the losing streak. They played hard. They were hitting shots, so we had to dig a little bit deeper in order to get the win." In this matchup of banged-up and undermanned squads, it seemed for most of the game that neither team would pull away. The Rockets finally did, thanks to Budinger's career-high 24-points, to win their first game since Kevin Martin has been out of the lineup with a sore shoulder. Budinger's jumper made it 94-92 and he added the free throws after a missed 3-point attempt by Earl Boykins. "He bailed us out tonight," Rockets coach Rick Adelman said of Budinger. "Ran that play perfectly. I told him to bank it and he banked it." (USA Today)