On a night where the Houston Rockets starters struggled, Maurice Taylor came off the bench to provide a big lift.

Taylor scored a season-high 17 points on 8-of-9 shooting to help the Rockets to a 83-74 victory over the New Orleans Hornets.

"You need to be able to win a lot of different ways in this league, and hopefully we will find ways to win," Rockets coach Jeff Van Gundy said.

Houston's starters scored 57 points, with starting forwards Kelvin Cato and Jim Jackson combining for just 16. But Taylor was a major factor, doing most of his damage in the first half with 10 points to pull the Rockets within 43-39 at halftime.

Cuttino Mobley scored 16 points and Yao Ming added 15 and 10 rebounds as the Rockets snapped a three-game road losing streak.

"It's always big to win," Van Gundy said. "It really doesn't matter whether you've won three in a row or lost three in a row. It's important to win games."

Darrell Armstrong led New Orleans with 17 points off the bench. Baron Davis added 16 and 11 assists while Jamaal Magloire had 14 and 12 rebounds.

Houston outscored New Orleans, 26-12, in the third quarter to take control of the game. Mobley and Cato each scored six points in the period.

The game had the potential to be an offensive explosion with All-Star guards Davis and Steve Francis matched up against each other. But it quickly evolved into a defense-oriented contest.

"It was a good matchup," Davis said. "I always look forward to facing Steve Francis. But neither of us played very well tonight."

Francis finished with 10 points on 3-of-12 shooting while Davis was 6-of-21.

New Orleans' pressure defense made it difficult for Houston to run its offense. The presence of Yao and Cato inside forced the Hornets to settle for outside shots. Cato had four blocks.

"It was grimy," Francis said. "Our defensive effort was good. Offensively, we didn't shoot too well, but we did a good job defensively in stopping the opposing team's best player."

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