Magic at Rockets
The Houston Rockets are striving to keep the heat on the Golden State Warriors and they look to post their ninth victory in 11 games when they host the Orlando Magic on Tuesday. Houston trails the Warriors by four games for the top seed in the Western Conference and will try to avoid a letdown against the struggling Magic.
The contest with Orlando is big for the Rockets as they next head out on a four-game road trip that begins with games against the San Antonio Spurs and Cleveland Cavaliers. Houston recorded a 113-102 victory over the Phoenix Suns on Sunday despite a substandard 11-of-37 performance from 3-point range. Orlando blew a 70-53 halftime advantage in Sunday's 114-112 loss to the Indiana Pacers for its 19th defeat in the past 22 games. "Clearly, we knew they were going to make a run and in the second half their intensity would be far greater and that's what it looked like," Magic coach Frank Vogel said afterward. "I thought Indiana outplayed us. They played well as a team and they got it done. We'll keep hammering it and keep working to get better at it."
TV: 8 p.m. ET, FS Florida (Orlando), AT&T Sports Net Southwest (Houston)
ABOUT THE MAGIC (14-34): Center Nikola Vucevic (broken left hand) will miss his 15th consecutive contest and Orlando has won just two games without him. The 27-year-old averages 17.4 points and a team-leading 9.3 rebounds, and that leaves a big hole despite 22-year-old power forward Aaron Gordon continuing to make big strides - he has a team-best 18.4 scoring average along with 8.3 rebounds per game. Gordon missed Monday's practice due to a hip flexor but is expected to play and attempt to post his fifth straight double-double.
ABOUT THE ROCKETS (35-13): Sharpshooting guard Eric Gordon is in a five-game funk in which he is just 10-of-38 from 3-point range, including two games in which he missed every attempt - nine against Golden State on Jan. 20 and seven against Miami on Jan. 22. Gordon looked on the verge of ending the slump when he scored 27 points on 10-of-15 shooting (including 4-of-7 from 3-point range) against the New Orleans Pelicans on Friday but dropped back to 13 points on 3-of-9 shooting against the Suns. Shooting guard James Harden remains the NBA scoring leader with a 30.9 average but he has failed to reach 30 in any of the last six appearances, including a season-worst 10 against the Minnesota Timberwolves on Jan. 18.
BUZZER BEATERS
1. The Rockets have won nine of the past 11 meetings.
2. Orlando SF Evan Fournier (ankle), who scored 21 points on Sunday, is expected to play against Houston.
3. Houston PF Trevor Ariza (hamstring) was injured against the Suns and will likely miss two weeks.