"Kevin Martin flipped in finger rolls and swished 3-pointers. He drew fouls and dropped in free throws. There were, however, two questions he could not shoot past.

Would he break Calvin Murphy's franchise record of 57 points in a game? And if he did, would that be enough?

Martin had a season-high 32 by halftime, but the Rockets didn't need him to maintain that pace. Instead, they finally turned up their defense enough to roll to a 22-point lead on the way to a 110-95 rout, extending their home winning streak to five games with their fifth consecutive win over Cleveland at Toyota Center. The Cavs have lost seven straight.

Martin cooled off a bit in the second half but still finished with 40 points, the most for a Rockets player in a game this season. He made 12 of 19 shots and 13 of 14 free throws.

"I was mad I had to take 19 (shots) to get 40," said Martin, who had 22 in the first quarter, matching the third-most prolific quarter ever for a Rockets player behind Vernon Maxwell's 30 and Yao Ming's 23.

"It was just a nice rhythm tonight," Martin said. "I just knew I was going to try to be aggressive. At the beginning of the game, that's when you try to use quickness and you get to the line and they start to back up and it opens up your outside shot.

"I had them on a little string tonight. It was fun."

Martin's fast start, however, was about more than setting up the Cleveland defenders. After the Rockets' disheartening loss at Milwaukee the night before, they were particularly eager to be sure to bring energy for the second half of a back-to-back. They still struggled early defensively, but the energy was there. "