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HOUSTON (Ticker) -- The Houston Rockets shot a blistering 96 percent from the free-throw line and limited the Lakers to their lowest point total since moving to Los Angeles en route to an 84-74 victory. Steve Francis scored 23 points, making 9-of-9 free throws, and Cuttino Mobley added 18 points in 28 minutes off the bench to help the Rockets to their third straight win over the Lakers. Mobley made 7-of-8 free throws, the only miss in 23 attempts by Houston. "Everybody came out to see the Lakers," Francis said. "I'm sure they were shocked to see us win." The Rockets also got good news after the game when the vote for funding for a new arena in Harris County passed. The team was in danger of moving. "It's a great day for the Houston Rockets and the county with the vote passing," Houston coach Rudy Tomjanovich said. "That was a concern for me. I love Houston. I want to finish my career here. To top it off with a victory over the World Champions was great." Hakeem Olajuwon, whose playing minutes are limited due to an injured left foot, had 12 points, five rebounds and five steals and did a solid job on All-Star Shaquille O'Neal. Rookie Jason Collier backed up Olajuwon and chipped in 10 points and four rebounds in 13 minutes. "We weren't very good offensively, but defensively we hung in there," Tomjanovich said. "Hakeem and Jason were great and we made the plays down the stretch." The Lakers shot just 61 percent (14-of-23) from the free-throw line and were held to their lowest point total since February 3, 1995 against the Denver Nuggets, which is the fewest points scored since the team moved from Minneapolis. "That was a pretty pathetic basketball game," Los Angeles coach Phil Jackson said. "Both teams played pretty poorly in the third quarter, but they got it back together in the fourth and won the game. It was an emotional tussle out there for our players tonight." O'Neal had 24 points and seven rebounds and Kobe Bryant added 15 points for Los Angeles. O'Neal made 8-of-14 free throws. "They were on top of him the entire night," said Jackson of O'Neal, who did not speak to the media. "It was ridiculous, but that's going to happen sometimes." Kelvin Cato, Houston's best defensive big man, sat out with a sprained left ankle. The Rockets took the lead for good when Collier made a 20-footer for a 26-25 edge with 9:25 left in the second period. Horace Grant then missed a jumper and Shandon Anderson answered with a layup to give the Rockets a 28-25 lead. Houston could not open a big lead in the second and took a 43-37 advantage into halftime after Olajuwon dunked with 75 seconds to play. The Lakers missed their final four shots in the first half. Francis, who made 6-of-16 shots from the floor, opened the third quarter with a 12-footer to give Houston an eight-point lead. Ron Harper responded with a jumper and followed with a 22-footer to bring the Lakers within 45-41 with just over 11 minutes left. Francis nailed a 19-footer to put Houston ahead, 47-41, with 9:42 to go. "We got out(bleeping) played tonight," Harper said. "If we would have stolen that game, it would have been unfair. We were out of sync the whole geame. We just stunk." Rick Fox made a 3-pointer to cut Houston's lead to 50-48 with 6:48 remaining in the third. But Francis made a pair of free throws 56 seconds later. The Rockets took a 58-52 lead into the final quarter, which began with Mobley's 3-pointer. Neither team could put together a run and the Lakers took advantage of consecutive missed jumpers by Mobley and Francis when Brian Shaw hit a 3-pointer to trim the deficit to 76-73 with two minutes to go. "Thats our job," said Mobley about making plays in the fourth quarter. "We're the leaders of this team and everybody else follows. We broke down their defense and found the open man." Olajuwon had a key rebound off a missed jumper by Anderson and Mobley nailed a pair of free throws with 80 seconds remaining for a 78-73 lead. O'Neal made one free throw nine seconds later, but the Lakers closed the game by missing two 3-pointers while the Rockets made 6-of-6 free throws.
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