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NBA: Yao Ming carries Rockets past Warriors

Houston Rockets center Yao Ming of China shoots the ball over Golden State Warriors center Al Harrington in the first half of their NBA clash at the Toyota Center in Houston, Texas, on Tuesday. PHOTO: EPA

Yao Ming (姚明) scored a season-high 36 points and grabbed 19 rebounds as he carried the Houston Rockets on his back in a 111-107 win over Golden State on Tuesday.

Yao was back in the lineup after missing Sunday's game against Utah, but this time Tracy McGrady sat out with the same problem -- a virus.

"I'm 100 percent," Yao said. "At the beginning, I felt a little down. As the game got going I got warmed up."

Yao scored nine points in the final three minutes to hold off Golden State.

Houston blew a 14-point lead in the fourth quarter, falling behind by a point before Yao rallied the troops. He just missed the fourth 20-20 game of his career.

"We were able to get the ball to Yao and he made his free throws," Houston coach Rick Adelman said of his 7-6 center, who was 14-of-15 from the foul line in the game.

"When he got fouled, we were in business. Yao is money," he said.

Rafer Alston scored 17 points and added 11 assists and Luther Head chipped in with 20 points for Houston, which played without McGrady, who missed his 15th game of the season -- this time with the flu.

The Warriors briefly took the lead at 102-101 on Baron Davis' three-pointer, but Yao went back to work.

Golden State started its comeback early in the third quarter when a 9-2 run brought it back within striking distance at 64-57. A few minutes later, Andris Biedrins' basket helped Golden State close within 75-71.

The Rockets responded by going inside to Yao.

Yao scored nine points in a row for Houston after Golden State scored seven straight to close within 100-99 with 2:55 left to play.

"Yao was just too much for us," Warriors coach Don Nelson said. "We dug too big a hole and it was just too tough to climb the ladder."

Houston's lead was built up early thanks to Yao, who scored 16 points and grabbed 13 rebounds in the first half to help the Rockets outrebound the Warriors, 34-26, in the first two quarters.

Stephen Jackson led Golden State with 25.

Houston won for the fifth time in six games and snapped a four-game losing streak against the Warriors.

Nets 87, Bucks 80

A day after pushing for a trade away from New Jersey, Jason Kidd scored seven points in the final 1:42 to secure the Nets' 87-80 win over Milwaukee in East Rutherford, New Jersey, on Tuesday.

Kidd added 11 assists as the Nets snapped a nine-game losing streak.

Ignoring the distractions Kidd created a day earlier with his comments, the Nets held the Bucks to 37.5 percent shooting and avoided their first double-digit skid since the 1999-2000 season.

Lakers 120, Knicks 109

In Los Angeles, Kobe Bryant had 24 points, 11 rebounds and eight assists and Los Angeles rallied to beat New York.

Sasha Vujacic scored 12 of his 20 points in the fourth quarter for the Lakers, who trailed 99-91 when Vujacic made a pair of three-pointers to get them going.

Zach Randolph's basket with 3:10 left drew the Knicks within two points before the Lakers scored the next 10 points to clinch the victory.

Suns 125, Hawks 92

In Phoenix, Amare Stoudemire scored 22 of his 24 points in the first half, setting up the Suns to beat Atlanta.

Stoudemire, who played only eight minutes in the second half, made 10 of his 11 field-goal attempts and four of his five free throws. He also had a team-high seven rebounds in the Suns' season-best sixth straight home win.

The Hawks lost for the sixth time in seven games.

Bulls 96, Timberwolves 85

In Chicago, Kirk Hinrich finished with 27 points and the Bulls spoiled Randy Foye's return from a knee injury by beating Minnesota.

Although they began the night with the NBA's worst record, the Timberwolves were showing signs of progress. They had won three of four, beating Phoenix along the way, and the lone loss during that stretch was by one point to NBA leaders Boston.

Pistons 110, Pacers 104

In Indianapolis, Rasheed Wallace had 24 points and 10 rebounds to help Detroit beat Indiana.

The Pistons remain only four games off the pace set by Boston in the Eastern Conference. The Pacers have lost four in a row.

Wizards 108, Raptors 104, OT

In Washington, Andray Blatche had 19 points and eight rebounds in only his second start of the season to lead Washington to an overtime victory over Toronto.

Antawn Jamison finished with 24 points and 20 rebounds for the Wizards.

Celtics 117, Heat 87

In Miami, Leon Powe scored a career-high 25 points with 11 rebounds to lead Boston to an overwhelming victory over Miami -- who followed the win that snapped their 15-game losing streak with an absolute clunker.

Rajon Rondo tied a career-high with 23 points and Tony Allen scored 20 points with six assists for the Celtics, who cruised to victory despite being without Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen, while the third member of their star triumvirate, Paul Pierce, was scoreless for most of the first half.

SuperSonics 88, Spurs 85

In Seattle, the home team stunned defending NBA champion San Antonio to finally end a team-record losing streak at 14 games.

Kevin Durant scored 26 points, including the go-ahead jump shot with 32.6 seconds remaining. Luke Ridnour hit a free throw with 12 seconds left before Manu Ginobili, who had 29 points, missed a three-point attempt with 4.9 seconds remaining that would have tied it.

The Spurs lost for a season-high third consecutive time while playing without star Tony Parker. The point guard will be out indefinitely with a bone spur in his left heel.

San Antonio is now 9-9 this season without Parker, Ginobili or Tim Duncan.
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