This Time, Rockets Are All Business

HOUSTON — This time, the Houston Rockets didn’t take any chances.

Charles Barkley had 19 points and 12 rebounds and Scottie Pippen led a fourth-quarter three-point shooting charge that helped the Rockets run away from the Clippers, 110-84, Sunday night.

The Rockets lost in overtime to the Clippers in Los Angeles on April 23, so they came out charging and never trailed.

“This was a great win for us,” Pippen said. “It’s always good to get everyone involved in the offense. We needed a good one like this where our starters could rest. Charles had great energy and that got us going.”

The Clippers did throw a minor scare into the Rockets when they trimmed a 20-point deficit near the end of the third quarter to 86-74 with 7:06 to play.

That’s when the Rockets put on a three-point shooting show to blow out the Clippers. The Rockets had seven three-point baskets in the fourth quarter and were 11 of 21 overall from beyond the arc. Los Angeles was three of 12 from three-point range.

“Me and Scottie had a long talk, I said, ‘If we’re going down, let’s go down running and gunning,’ ” Barkley said. “I don’t know about the rest of the guys but me and Scottie are going to be running.”

Hakeem Olajuwon scored 20 points and had five steals and Pippen finished with 14 points as seven Rockets finished in double figures.

Troy Hudson led the Clippers with 20 points and Maurice Taylor had 18.

“They played well throughout,” Clipper Coach Chris Ford said. “They’re trying to play for a home-court advantage. They just came out and dominated. We tried to get the ball down low to Michael [Olowokandi] but it seemed any time we went in to Michael, Hakeem came up with the steal.”