PORTLAND, Oregon (Ticker) -- After being shut down, Steve Francis would not shut up.
Francis capped an awful game with a shouting match with several members of the Portland Trail Blazers, who made all the clutch shots down the stretch of an 85-78 victory over the Houston Rockets.
A two-time All-Star guard, Francis made just 2-of-9 shots and did not get to the free-throw line, scoring just four points as he was hounded by Trail Blazers Jeff McInnis, Damon Stoudamire and Ruben Patterson.
After Stoudamire made two free throws for an 85-76 lead with 38 seconds to go, Francis missed a 3-pointer. McInnis could have dribbled out the clock, but missed a jumper.
Francis made a steal and went in for a meaningless layup at the buzzer. After the horn, he had heated words with Portland forward Qyntel Woods and had to be pulled away from McInnis.
"I was just talking to my team, getting them going, and he must have taken something outta that," Woods said. "Maybe because he was having a bad game, I don't know, but I was talking to my team."
"They were just talking at the line, jawing at each other, and it just kinda escalated from there," McInnis said.
Francis refused to disclose what was said between himself and Woods.
"Go ask that kid over there in Portland," Francis said. "There are just certain things that you do not say."
"I don't know or care (what happened)," said Trail Blazers coach Maurice Cheeks, whose club improved to 7-1 at home.
McInnis and Stoudamire combined to score Portland's last 14 points, holding off a rally by Houston.
"I hit some shots against Miami (on Wednesday) that were big and that carried over to this game," said Stoudamire, who had 23 points and seven assists. "I just want to continue the things that I've been doing."
Stoudamire's 3-pointer and jumper around a basket by Houston's Maurice Taylor widened a one-point lead to 78-74 with 2:34 to play. McInnis followed with a 3-pointer and jumper for an 83-74 bulge with a minute left.
"I was struggling all game, but my teammates said, 'Keep your head up, you're gonna make a big shot for us,'" said McInnis, who scored eight points on just 3-of-13 shooting. "That's what I did."
Zach Randolph scored 21 points for Portland, which shot a season-low 34 percent (28-of-82). Yao Ming had 21 points and nine rebounds for Houston, which wasted an early 13-point lead.
"We played a great first quarter and a very poor last three," Rockets coach Jeff Van Gundy said. "When you hold a team on the road to 34 percent, you should win the game."
