McHale's Rockets take on Saunders' Wizards

Old friends meet on Martin Luther King, Jr. Day in D.C. when Kevin McHale leads his Houston Rockets into the nation's capital to face off with Flip Saunders and the Washington Wizards.

Saunders and McHale were teammates in college at the University of Minnesota and McHale, then the general manager of the Timberwolves, gave Saunders his first NBA coaching job with Minny in 1995.

Things haven't been going all that well for either early this season especially Saunders, who saw his team fall to an NBA-worst 1-11 on Saturday.

Philadelphia's Andre Iguodala filled the stat sheet with 23 points, seven rebounds, five assists and five steals in that one, as the 76ers dominated Washington, 103-90, to beat the Wizards for a second straight night.

JaVale McGee had 23 points, tied a career-high with 18 rebounds and blocked five shots for Washington. Nick Young scored 27 by making half of his 22 shots.

John Wall narrowly missed a triple-double with 19 points, nine rebounds and nine assists, but he committed eight of Washington's 18 turnovers. Those miscues led to 27 Philadelphia points.

"We had a lot of unforced turnovers," Saunders said.

The Rockets, meanwhile, won their second straight game on Friday when their starting backcourt of Kyle Lowry and Kevin Martin combined for 61 points as Houston took down the Portland Trail Blazers, 107-105, in overtime.

Lowry had 33 points, nine assists and eight rebounds while Martin added 28 points -- including four consecutive free throws in overtime to seal the win -- as the Rockets improved to 4-1 at home.

Chase Budinger added a season-high 18 points against Portland and Jordan Hill added seven with seven rebounds.

"They're playing too many minutes," McHale said of his backcourt. "We've got to give them more rest, there's no doubt, but while they're getting that rest we've got to be able to maintain leads and expand leads."

The road has been a different story for Houston, however. The Rockets have lost six of seven as the visitor this season.

Houston also had a five-game winning streak in DC halted back in November of 2010 thanks in large part to Wall, who recorded his first career triple-double in that game with 19 points, 13 assists and 10 rebounds. Overall the Rockets have won 13 of their last 16 against the Wiz.