HOUSTON, March 8 (Ticker) -- Unlike his All-Star teammate, Yao Ming's back appears healthy enough to carry the Houston Rockets.
Yao had a dominant effort with a season-high 38 points, 10 rebounds and five blocks as the Rockets posted their fourth straight victory, a 103-99 triumph over the Indiana Pacers.
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Houston's leading scorer at 24.6 points per game, McGrady once again was listed as questionable with a nagging back injury that has caused him to miss all or parts of 18 games this season. The 26-year-old superstar decided to give it a go Wednesday and scored 15 points in 21 minutes before aggravating the injury early in the third quarter.
Fortunately for the Rockets, Yao has elevated his play of late. The 7-5 giant took advantage of the Pacers' undersized front line, making 14-of-21 shots and all 10 of his free throws.
Yao's hook shot with 8:33 remaining sliced Houston's deficit to 91-89 and capped a pivotal 17-3 run for the Rockets.
After the teams jockeyed back and forth for several minutes, Yao and Peja Stojakovic engaged in a mini-competition of their own. Stojakovic made a layup to give Indiana a 95-94 lead with 3:35 left, but Yao answered with a layup. Stojakovic made two free throws 16 seconds later before Yao sank a pair from the line.
The Rockets took the lead for good at 100-99 on a transition layup with 25 seconds left by Keith Bogans, who scored 10 of his 14 points in the second half.
Indiana's Steven Jackson misfired on a 3-pointer and, after Houston rookie Luther Head split a pair of free throws, Anthony Johnson missed badly on a turnaround jumper.
Bogans made two free throws to seal the victory, Houston's 14th in 18 games.
Juwan Howard scored 16 points and Rafer Alston dished out 14 assists for Houston, which shot nearly 53 percent (38-of-72) and made 25-of-31 free throws.
Stojakovic scored 29 points and Jackson added 23 to pace Indiana, which connected on only 4-of-24 shots in the fourth quarter and lost for the third time in four games.作者: King Lion 时间: 2006-3-9 13:50 标题: Re: 姚明进入20+10+俱乐部后 ZT 很喜欢红字的表述，老美 [M01]作者: 知更 时间: 2006-3-9 14:03 标题: Re: 姚明进入20+10+俱乐部后 ZT 昨天看了一会火箭对森林狼的那场，可惜已经差不多接近尾声了，姚明也很快下场了 [M08]