National Basketball Association

Rockets 104, Knicks 96

Published Nov. 15, 2010 4:11 a.m. ET

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Even without two starters, the Houston Rockets are climbing out of the hole they dug to start the season.

The New York Knicks seem headed toward continuing their recent holiday tradition of being hopelessly behind by Thanksgiving.

Kevin Martin scored 28 points, Luis Scola added 24, and the Rockets sent the Knicks to their fifth straight loss with a 104-96 victory on Sunday night.

Courtney Lee had 12 for the Rockets, who have won two straight and three of four after opening the season with five straight losses. Even without injured starters Yao Ming and Aaron Brooks, they beat the Knicks for the 13th time in 15 meetings.

''It was a good road trip for us,'' Martin said. ''We're going through a lot right now. Two of our top four players are out right now and we thought we were going to have them beginning of the year and find chemistry early, but now we're going to have to rely on whoever we have at the moment.''

Amare Stoudemire scored 25 points for the Knicks, who were loudly booed in the fourth quarter. After blowing a 21-point lead Friday in Minnesota, when they were on the wrong end of Kevin Love's 31-point, 31-rebound performance, they missed their first eight shots in the final period to turn this game into a rout.

''I don't understand why we're not playing with the urgency,'' a visibly dejected Stoudemire said. ''I'm not used to that. We don't have that sense of urgency. It's almost as if it doesn't matter. That's something I'm not used to.

''I try to instill the fact that we have to play with sense of urgency. It's not like we won four games in a row, we lost four games in a row. We just still are not having the sense of urgency. We're not showing that we really want it.''

New York (3-7) starts a four-game trip out West on Tuesday in Denver, in danger of quickly falling out of the race in a season that began with optimism after the signing of Stoudemire.

''Obviously nobody wants to lose and everybody is pressing,'' coach Mike D'Antoni said. ''The reality is we're 3-7 and we've got a game on Tuesday. So you just try to figure out what's going wrong, how can you get a little bit better, who to play in the rotations and hit it on Tuesday. At this point that's all we can do.''

Ish Smith's jumper at the buzzer gave Houston an 84-75 lead after three, and the boos were out when Martin was all alone for a fast-break layup after a Knicks miss to open the scoring in the fourth.

Lee's 3-pointer pushed it to 89-75, and the Rockets were rolling. Stoudemire and Danilo Gallinari each managed a free throw before Scola's jumper started a run of nine straight points that put it away at 96-77 midway through the period before the Knicks finally ended their drought on Landry Fields' follow dunk with 5:39 remaining.

Reserve center Chuck Hayes, who helped slow Stoudemire after his strong start, said the Rockets could see the frustration in the Knicks.

''It happens to every team,'' he said. ''You get frustrated. Everybody starts pointing fingers. Once you get a team like that, you have them with their backs against the wall, you want to keep them like that.''

The Rockets knew the early season could be a struggle as they figured the best way to use Yao, who is on a minutes restriction after returning from a year off with a foot injury. Things seemed to get even worse when Brooks, then Yao, went down with their sprained left ankles, but Houston is as accustomed as any team to having to get by without key parts.

''Welcome to my life the last five years as a member of the Houston Rockets,'' veteran Shane Battier said. ''We have not been blessed with health. So you get a certain sort of mentality when you come here and you learn real quick that there's not a lot of excuses or pity when guys get injured or go down. Next man in line and you better perform.''

Wilson Chandler scored 17 points for the Knicks, who got 15 from Raymond Felton, 14 from Gallinari and 12 from Fields.

Stoudemire scored 12 points on 6-of-8 shooting in the first quarter as the Knicks took a 27-26 lead. The Rockets controlled the second, getting 10 points from Martin en route to a 58-52 halftime lead.

Notes: Former lottery pick Jordan Hill, traded by the Knicks to the Rockets in a cap-clearing move as part of the Tracy McGrady deal, raced by the Knicks for two fast-break dunks in the second quarter. ... The Rockets were without reserve Chase Budinger, who sprained his left ankle Friday in a victory at Indiana. ... Knicks F/C Ronny Turiaf missed his third straight game with a sprained left knee. D'Antoni hopes he can return Tuesday, and it's possible he could start when he does. ... Knicks reserve guard Roger Mason Jr. played for just the second time in the last seven games.