Houston Rockets escaped with a 98-94 win over the struggling Washington Wizards on Tuesday night.
Budinger hit a go-ahead jump shot with 28 seconds remaining and made two free throws.The win breaks a four-game skid for the Rockets and extends Washington's team-record losing streak to 16 games.
Budinger's jumper made it 94-92 and he added the free throws after a missed 3-point attempt by Earl Boykins. Mike Miller cut the lead to two points with a tip-in with five seconds left, but Kyle Lowry made two free throws to secure the win.Andray Blatche scored 31 points and had 10 rebounds to lead the Wizards and Miller added 14 points and 12 rebounds.
Houston trailed by five points with about four minutes left before Luis Scola made two quick baskets to cut the lead to 89-88. Boykins was fouled on a 3-point attempt, but made just one of the three shots to make it 90-88. Budinger tied it moments later with a jump shot before two free throws from Boykins put Washington back on top with almost two minutes remaining.
The Wizards are missing a similar number of players, led by star guard Gilbert Arenas, who is suspended for the season because of a gun charge that recently got him sentenced to 30 days in a halfway house and two years' probation. They're also missing Josh Howard, who has a torn ACL, Randy Foye, out for at least seven to 10 days with a wrist injury and Al Thornton who has a hip flexor.
Houston has been without star center Yao Ming all season and has recently been missing Martin and Shane Battier as well as role players Jared Jeffries and David Andersen because of injuries. Martin, who missed his third straight, is the team's highest scorer, having averaged almost 22 points a game since being traded to Houston in the three-team deal that sent Tracy McGrady to the Knicks.
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