(Sports Network) - The Houston Rockets will try and stop a four-game home losing streak when they take on the Milwaukee Bucks this afternoon on Martin Luther King, Jr. Day from the Toyota Center.
Houston will also welcome the New York Knicks to Space City and owns an admirable 10-9 ledger at home this season. It ended a two-game slide and won for the second time in nine tries with Saturday's 112-106 victory in Atlanta behind Aaron Brooks' 24 points and 10 assists.
Luis Scola scored 20 points, while both Kyle Lowry and Jordan Hill finished with 16 for the Rockets, who shot 54 percent and had a 45-32 advantage on the backboards.
"I told them after the game, it just shows, you've got to stay with it because we have the potential to keep winning games, but it's got to be just like this, just like we did tonight," Houston coach Rick Adelman said.
Rockets rookie forward Patrick Patterson was taken to the hospital for precautionary tests after leaving the game with congestion and chest pains. The tests revealed nothing more than flu-like symptoms, and Patterson returned to Houston with the team. He is listed as doubtful for tonight.
Houston has allowed at least 100 points in each of the last 11 games.
Milwaukee has dropped two straight and seven of nine games, and is coming off a 95-94 loss at Philadelphia Friday night.
Corey Maggette finished with 16 points and five rebounds off the bench and Ersan Ilyasova chipped in 14 points for Milwaukee, which is now 6-14 away from the Bradley Center this season. In the waning moments of the game, Maggette's jumper from in close was blocked by Sixers guard Andre Iguodala. Maggette got his own rebound and sent a pass to the corner for Earl Boykins, whose three- pointer was off the mark as time expired.
"We were just trying to get [Maggette] to drive to the right," Bucks head coach Scott Skiles said. "You know they had a foul to give. We thought maybe they'd take the foul early, and we had a back-up plan to take it to the side. Unfortunately, we just got a loose ball, picked it up, and we still got a wide open, good three-point shot at the buzzer. Just couldn't get it."
Drew Gooden, Keyon Dooling and John Salmons each added 12 points in defeat. Andrew Bogut pulled down a game-best 12 rebounds to go along with 10 points and Boykins ended with eight points and 11 assists off the bench. Salmons has scored in double digits in each of the past 13 games, averaging 16.7 points, 3.3 rebounds, 2.9 assists and 1.2 steals in that span.
Milwaukee topped the Rockets, 97-91, on Dec. 10 at the Bradley Center, but the Rockets have won 10 of the last 12 matchups. The Bucks are winless in their previous 10 visits at the Toyota Center.
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