HOUSTON (Ticker) -- The Houston Rockets continue to win with defense.
Steve Francis and Yao Ming both had big games as the Rockets avoided their first losing streak of the season with a 90-85 victory over the Phoenix Suns.
In Jeff Van Gundy's first season, the Rockets have adopted their new coach's defensive philosophy that appears to be working through the first eight games. Houston leads the NBA in scoring defense and has not allowed more than 86 points in any of its six wins.
In their latest win, the Rockets held the Suns to 38 percent (30-of-79) shooting while forcing 20 turnovers. Francis and Yao led the way offensively. Francis finished with 26 points and Yao collected 21 and 14 points as the Rockets rebounded from Thursday's sloppy loss at Dallas.
"The second half we were much more active," Van Gundy said. "We were outrebounded by six in the first and we were even in the second half. We hit the floor, got some loose balls."
"I thought we grinded it out tonight," Francis said. "We found a way to get buckets, get crucial stops."
Stephon Marbury netted a season-high 33 points for the Suns, who finished one game in front of the Rockets for the Western Conference's final playoff berth last season.
After Penny Hardaway's jumper pulled Phoenix even at 69-69 with 9:02 remaining, the Suns went scoreless for the next 4:14 as the Rockets took the lead for good.
"If we hit our open shots, we would've won the game," said Suns forward Shawn Marion, who scored 14 points. "We went on a scoring drought in the fourth quarter and it really hurt us."
Overmatching Jahidi White and Jake Voskuhl down low, Yao scored on a turaround jumper to give the Rockets the lead for good with 7:36 remaining, Kelvin Cato had a dunk and Cuttino Mobley converted a layup for a 75-69 advantage.
"It was not really my best game (this year," Yao said through an interpreter. "It was a very tiring game. We kept going even when we were tired."
While Yao came up with his fourth double-double of the season, White and Voskuhl combined for five points, eight rebounds and eight fouls.
