Rockets' forward Shane Battier received a cortisone shot in his right foot on Tuesday and is expected to miss the next six games.

He has been struggling with pain and soreness in the foot.

"It got to the point after the Utah game (Saturday), I stayed in bed for four hours," Battier said. "I couldn't get out. We've had a lot of games, a lot of excessive pounding I didn't react well to. Hopefully, the shot of cortisone will address some inflammation, and I can manage the pain."

The Rockets have re-signed center Dikembe Mutombo, 42, for the rest of the season.

Mutombo appeared in 39 games for Houston last season, logging most of his minutes after Yao Ming broke his left foot in February.

Mutombo averaged five rebounds, three points and 1.2 blocks.

Rockets guard Tracy McGrady says that he and the team have agreed he will not play both games of a back-to-back.

"Me and coach talked about it, and I think when we do have back-to-backs, we'll really have communication to decide which game I should play and which game I should sit out," McGrady said.

He sat out Saturday's game against the Jazz after facing the Hornets on Friday.

Houston coach Rick Adelman said there is no set plan about which game McGrady will skip, but that the decision might be based on the schedule.

Houston Rockets forward Joey Dorsey was assigned to the Rio Grande Valley Vipers, the Rockets? NBA Development League affiliate, it was announced today.  Dorsey is the 14th player to be assigned from an NBA team to the NBA D-League this season.  

Originally selected in the second round, 33rd overall, of the 2008 NBA Draft by the Portland Trail Blazers, Dorsey was traded to Houston  on Draft night and appeared in three regular season games for the Rockets, scoring two points and grabbing one rebound.  In four preseason games, Dorsey averaged 3.3 points, 4.8 rebounds and 1.5 assists.

The Rockets moved Steve Francis to the Grizzlies to help create cap room, which might help them sign free agent Dikembe Mutombo.

Houston wanted to create cap room, and they still want Mutombo back.

However, Dikembe has also garnered interest from Boston and San Antonio.

Former NBA coach Jeff Van Gundy, who recently signed a five-year deal with ESPN/ABC as an analyst, ended speculation that he could return to the coaching ranks in the near future.

"I'm not sure I'd have gotten a job," Van Gundy said, although he does miss some of the perks. "I greatly miss the competition, camaraderie and, to be honest, the charter flights. Now I have to take commercial flights ?man, oh, man!"

The Houston Rockets traded guard Steve Francis to the Memphis Grizzlies. The Rockets included their 2009 second round draft choice with Francis.

In exchange, the Rockets receive a trade exception worth roughly $2.6 million and a conditional 2011 second round pick from Memphis.

The Grizzlies, then located in Vancouver, selected Francis with the second overall pick in the 1999 draft. Francis refused to play for the Grizzlies and was quickly traded to Houston.

Before Luis Scola was traded from the San Antonio Spurs to the Houston Rockets in 2007, there was a done deal which had him on his way to join LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers, the Houston Chronicle is reporting.

The Spurs had the deal done to trade Scola?s rights to the Cavaliers, only to have it fall apart. Two hours later, talks heated up with the Rockets and within two more hours, the Rockets acquired the rights to Scola for Vassilis Spanoulis.

Scola went through ups and downs even more trying than the teams?.

?I think about it occasionally,? Scola, who had 11 points and eight rebounds on Tuesday, said. ?I was really, really, really close. Until four hours before I was traded (to Houston) I was 80 percent sure I was coming to Cleveland.

?I was excited. Now, I think the best thing that could happen to me was to go to Houston. I?m really happy with everything, the way it turned out.?

The Cleveland Cavaliers survived what LeBron James called a heavyweight fight to defeat the Houston Rockets 99-90 on Tuesday night and still remain the league's only undefeated team at home, the Associated Press is reporting.

"That's a great team," James said. "They're a proven team from the West, and we're a proven team from the East, and we bumped heads together."

James punctuated one of Cleveland's closest wins at Quicken Loans Arena -- and a heated game -- by slapping Yao Ming's layup attempt into the backboard in the final minute.

Rafer Alston is set to return to the court on Tuesday night for the Rockets in their pivotal game against the red-hot Cavaliers.

Alston has missed the team's last four games because of a strained left hamstring.

"I wanted to go tonight (Monday), but the big man (Rockets' athletic trainer Keith Jones) said (Tuesday) was better," Alston said. "He just felt one more day of rest would be a good thing for me."