HOUSTON – Kevin Martin scored 36 points and the Houston Rockets recovered from their lowest first-half point total of the season in a 93-84 win over the Milwaukee Bucks on Monday.
Luis Scola had 19 points and 14 rebounds and Jordan Hill added 10 points and 10 rebounds off the bench for the Rockets, who snapped a four-game home losing streak.
Corey Maggette scored a season-high 25 points for the Bucks, who've lost 11 straight games in Houston and remain the only team without a victory at the Toyota Center.
The Rockets shot 37 percent (35 of 95) and went 1-for-11 from 3-point range. They had only 39 points at halftime, then took control with a 35-point third quarter.
Both teams shot poorly in the first half, then picked it up after the break.
Keyon Dooling and Salmons made back-to-back 3-pointers, the first 3s of the game. Scola, 3 for 11 in the first half, scored seven points in the first 6 minutes after halftime to pull the Rockets even at 53-all.
Shane Battier made Houston's first 3 with 1:35 left in the third quarter, and Martin's free throws in the last minute to put the Rockets up 70-64.
Scola and Martin combined to score 22 points in the third quarter and the Rockets took a 74-66 lead to the fourth.
Houston shot 61 percent in the third quarter (14 of 23), then missed nine of its first 10 shots in the final quarter. Hill hit a jumper and a driving layup to push the lead to nine.
The Bucks have lost eight of their last 10 games.
The game got off to an ugly start, with the teams combining to miss 18 of their first 23 shots.
The Rockets found their touch first, building a six-point lead on Martin's second dunk of the game. The Bucks missed 14 of their first 19 shots, some of them layups.
Ersan Ilyasova's jumper with 1.8 seconds left in the first quarter made it 18-15.
Early in the second quarter, Milwaukee's Drew Gooden blocked Hill's shot on a drive, and Hill landed hard on his side. Hill stayed on the floor for several minutes as Houston's trainers checked on him. Hill stayed in the game and hit two free throws for a 22-19 Houston lead.
Both teams were shooting 33 percent (10 for 33) for the game midway through the second quarter and neither team had hit a 3-pointer (0 for 10) or reached 30 points.
Scola just beat the halftime buzzer with a jumper to tie it at 39-all. Maggette had 13 points on 6-for-10 shooting in the first half to lead the Bucks — the rest of the team shot 11 for 33.
NOTES: The Rockets held their opponent under 100 points for the first time in 12 games. ... Scola recorded his 11th double-double of the season. ... Rockets C Brad Miller missed a fourth straight game with a sore left knee. Houston F Patrick Patterson was also out after leaving Saturday's game against Atlanta with an upper respiratory infection. ... Bucks coach Scott Skiles doesn't expect G Brandon Jennings (broken left foot) to return to practice this week. Jennings had surgery on Dec. 20 and was expected to miss four to six weeks. "There hasn't been any setback, he's on course," Skiles said. "It's a day-by-day thing."
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