Tim Duncan played the first quarter like an NBA Jam player that was "on fire".  After that, it was all over.

With TP out, and Manu's shot busy playing a guest role on a popular television program about being stranded on an island, it was good to see the old Tim Duncan who could dominate a game on his own.  The 15-foot bank shot was back in full force, and Timmy owned the Rockets in the post too.

Jacque Vaugn, starting in Tony's place, went 4-5, and Beno, as Jacque's backup, went 4-7 (2-2 on triples), with 3 assists on no turnovers.  Maybe there's hope for Beno yet.  Elson played, well, and Finley succesfully dropped in some shots to finish out the major scorers.

For the Rockets, most notable is that, without Yao Ming, Tracy McGrady had 21 pts, but they were all in the first half.  He completely disappeared in the 2nd half.

Since I forgot I was supposed to do the write-up for the game until mid-way through the third quarter, the rest of my notes are from the end of the game:

Most exciting play: With the shot-clock winding down, Bowen throws up a prayer in an attempt to hit the rim, and instead it somehow actually goes in.

Most entertaining moment: The Rockets are so desperate for help, they try to send their mascot in during play.

Both teams had their bench players in with 6:00 minutes left in the 4th, where we got our first Melvin Ely sighting.

It was such a solid win that the game itself was kind of dull after the first quarter, but I'd perfectly happy with a lot more boring games like that.