Martin has 21 in Rockets' 94-78 win
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Though the Houston Rockets are one of the NBA's highest-scoring teams, they relied on defense and rebounding to beat the Charlotte Bobcats on Wednesday night.
Kevin Martin (pictured) scored 21 points, Chuck Hayes matched his season high with 17 rebounds and the Rockets never trailed in a 94-78 victory.
Chase Budinger scored 19 and rookie Patrick Patterson added 12 points and 10 rebounds for the Rockets, who are 2 1/2 games behind Memphis for the final playoff spot in the Western Conference.
Houston, averaging 106 points, outrebounded the Bobcats 51-37. Charlotte's point total was a season low for a Rockets' opponent.
"It's a solid win for our guys," coach Rick Adelman said. "We came out and defended them pretty well. We did what we had to do, which was control the game from the very start."
Houston also never trailed in Monday's 95-93 win over Phoenix.
"That's two games in a row that we kept somebody under 100," Hayes said. "Our defense is there, and our offense is clicking, at times. If we can put them both together, that would just be too much of a perfect game."
D.J. Augustin scored 22 and Boris Diaw added 13 for the Bobcats, who've lost nine of past 11 meetings with Houston. Charlotte remained a half-game behind Indiana in the race for the No 8 seed in the East.
The Bobcats went cold after shooting 53 percent in the first quarter. They finished 29 for 78 (37 percent) from the field as leading scorer Stephen Jackson went 2 for 14.
Jackson went 0 for 5 from 3-point range and took full blame for his bad night.
"My body felt fine," he said. "It was just one of those nights. I had wide-open looks, but the shots didn't fall. It wasn't anything they did with their defense."
