Yao Ming and the Houston Rockets are running out of time in the race for an NBA playoff spot.
Yao scored just six points Wednesday night as the Utah Jazz beat Houston 94-73, all but knocking the Rockets out of contention.
``The timetable is really short for us,'' acting Rockets coach Larry Smith said.
It got even shorter an hour later when Phoenix beat Dallas, putting the Rockets 2 1/2 games behind the Suns for the final playoff berth. The Suns have four games left and the Rockets have just three to make up the deficit.
The Jazz, meanwhile, are already in the playoffs for the 20th straight season and hoping to improve on their No. 7 seed. It won't be easy. Utah's remaining games are against the top three teams in the west -- at home for Dallas and San Antonio and at Sacramento.
``If we can be tough enough mentally, I think we can compete against these other teams. I am anxious to see,'' Utah coach Jerry Sloan said.
Utah was desperate for a win after losing three straight, including a 128-102 embarrassment at Golden State on Tuesday night. The Jazz responded by taking advantage of Houston's shooting woes and pulling ahead by as much as 25 points.
Matt Harpring had 23 points and eight rebounds, and Andrei Kirilenko added 15 points and three blocks for the Jazz.
``It was huge because we're heading into a tough schedule and you want to get that feeling of winning back before we play these tough teams,'' Harpring said. ``We've lost some games that we should have won but that happens. We broke out of it and we're ready to move on.''
Karl Malone had 10 points and seven rebounds, and Greg Ostertag added 11 rebounds for the Jazz, who host the Mavericks on Friday.
``We're still there. We've showed we can play with the best around,'' said Kirilenko, who got a few stitches after the game for a cut he sustained when he banged his chin on the floor. ``We're ready to fight and we will fight.''
The Rockets, who tied the franchise low in shooting percentage and points by shooting 29.5 percent in an 81-66 loss at Portland on Tuesday, nearly set even lower marks Wednesday. The Rockets went 10-for-23 and scored 27 points in the fourth quarter, but were just 28-for-89 (31.5 percent) overall.
``I really can't explain it. We just can't put it in the basket. We just can't score,'' Smith said. ``Our main guys are getting good looks and we're coming up with zero.''
James Posey and Maurice Taylor led Houston with 10 points each. Yao, the club's Chinese star, had five rebounds and was well below his averages of 13.7 points and 8.3 rebounds.
``Yesterday we did a few things well,'' Yao said. ``Tonight, I don't think we did anything well.''
Suns 112, Mavericks 89
Penny Hardaway got his first triple-double in 1 1/2 years, and Shawn Marion had 31 points and 15 rebounds as the Phoenix Suns defeated the Dallas Mavericks.
We're hungry. We're starving. We want it bad,'' Phoenix's Stephon Marbury said. ``I don't know about those other teams, but we want it bad. We want it real bad.''
After leading the league all season, the Mavs slipped a game behind their fellow Texans from San Antonio when the Spurs beat the Portland Trail Blazers 84-79.
Celtics 87, Wizards 83
In Washington, Boston spoiled Washington's celebration of the 25th anniversary of the franchise's lone NBA championship.
Rookie J.R. Bremer scored 20 points on 8-for-11 shooting, including the winning 3-pointer with 19.4 seconds to play. Antoine Walker scored 24 and Paul Pierce had 20 as the Celtics clinched a playoff berth and sent the Wizards closer to elimination.
Washington fell 2 1/2 games behind eighth-place Milwaukee in the East.
After Bremer's basket, the Wizards trailed 85-83, but couldn't get the ball to Michael Jordan on their final possession. Tyronn Lue missed a tough 5m fadeaway, and neither Kwame Brown nor Christian Laettner could get the tip.
Bucks 112, Clippers 92
In Milwaukee, Toni Kukoc scored 26 points, tying his season high, as Milwaukee beat the Los Angeles Clippers.
Hawks 97, Nets 92
In Atlanta, Ira Newble hit a go-ahead 3-point shot in the final 1:38 as Atlanta held off a furious New Jersey rally.
Shareef Abdur-Rahim added another 3 points late in the game to extend the margin to six. And after Jason Kidd made a layup on the other end, Atlanta's Dion Glover made a free throw for the final margin.
Jason Terry scored 24 points for the Hawks.
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