USA - Yao's big game leads Rockets past Magic

NEW YORK (NBA) - It seems Yao Ming is back to early-season form, which could be bad news for the rest of the NBA.

China international Yao scored 37 points - one off his season high - and had five blocks as the Houston Rockets posted a 103-92 victory over the Orlando Magic.

Tracy McGrady had 19 points and 10 assists and Juwan Howard scored 14 points off the bench for Houston, which has won three straight games and nine of 10 against Orlando.

Yao, who played in his fourth contest since a knee injury knocked him out for 32 games, had his best effort since his return, going 14-of-22 from the field while grabbing seven rebounds.

The five-time All-Star had 16 points on 7-of-8 from the floor as the Rockets led 58-45 at half-time. It was his fifth game of 35 points or more in 2006-07.

Houston shot 53% (36-of-68) and handed out 30 assists, one off its season high.

Grant Hill scored 17 points and Dwight Howard added 16 and 12 rebounds for the Magic.

In Miami, Udonis Haslem handed the Washington Wizards another heartbreak.

Haslem scored 11 points, including a game-winning jumper with three-tenths of a second remaining, to lift the surging Miami Heat to a thrilling 106-104 victory over the Wizards.

Eddie Jones scored 18 points and Gary Payton chipped in 17 off the bench for Miami.

While LeBron James has been lighting up the league, Larry Hughes sparked the surging Cleveland Cavaliers this time around.

Hughes had 23 points and seven assists and James scored 26 points as the Cavaliers matched a season high with their fifth straight win, an easy 99-88 victory over the plummeting Indiana Pacers.

James had led the Cavaliers to wins in seven of 10 games since the All-Star break.

On Sunday, he shot 10-of-22 from the field, including 2-of-6 on three-pointers.

But it was Hughes' energy that boosted the Cavaliers, who led by as many as 26 points in the second half.

Timely shooting by Kirk Hinrich helped the Chicago Bulls remain in a comfort zone.

Hinrich hit 10-of-16 shots and scored 26 points and Ben Gordon added 21 as the Bulls defeated the Boston Celtics for the seventh straight time with a 94-78 triumph.

Gordon made 9-of-14 shots, Luol Deng scored 17 points and Ben Wallace added 10 with 14 rebounds for Chicago, which shot 51% (38-of-74).

The backcourt and frontcourt of the Detroit Pistons took turns covering for the absence of Rasheed Wallace.

Richard Hamilton scored 23 points and Chauncey Billups added 17 and 12 assists as the Pistons had no problems in a 98-80 victory over the Los Angeles Clippers.

Chris Webber had 19 points and 11 rebounds and Antonio McDyess scored 17 points for the Pistons, who shot 54%(39-of-72).

Jason Maxiell scored nine points and Tayshaun Prince added eight and five rebounds.

Corey Maggette scored 19 points and Tim Thomas added 16 for the Clippers, who were swept in the season series for the fourth straight year.

Ron Artest's return did nothing to slow down Carmelo Anthony and the Denver Nuggets, who won in Arco Arena for the first time in more than 10 years.

Artest suffered through a poor performance and Anthony scored 29 points as the Nuggets rolled to a 113-101 victory over the Kings.

The 2004 Defensive Player of the Year, Artest was excused from the team after his arrest Monday on felony domestic violence charges.

He was reinstated Saturday, when he made a tearful apology in which he promised yet again to clean up his act.

Artest scored 17 points but made just 5-of-15 shots, including 1-of-6 from the arc.

Allen Iverson had 24 points and seven assists. Linas Klieza also scored 24 points - a career high - on 8-of-11 shooting.

Mike Bibby scored 34 points on 12-of-20 shooting for the Kings.

In Toronto, a shootout between Ray Allen and Andrea Bargnani was settled by T.J. Ford.

Ford scored nine of his 25 points in overtime as the Toronto Raptors rallied for a seesaw 120-119 victory over the road-weary Seattle SuperSonics.

Allen and Bargnani traded clutch jumpers late in regulation before Ford took charge in the extra session and gave the Raptors consecutive wins for the first time since February 23-24.

One of the best shooters in the game, Allen scored 36 points on 14-of-28 shooting. He scored 12 points in the fourth quarter, including a jumper at the buzzer that forced overtime.

Elsewhere, Zach Randolph's led the Portland Trail Blazers to a long-awaited triumph.

Randolph scored 25 points and grabbed 13 rebounds and rookie Brandon Roy added 26 points for the Trail Blazers in a 106-87 triumph over the Golden State Warriors.

Randolph hit 11-of-21 from the floor and Roy finished 9-of-18, including three three-pointers. Ime Udoka scored 15 points for Portland, which was 10-of-23 from the arc.

Al Harrington scored 16 points and Jason Richardson had 14 for the Warriors, who played without injured leading scorer Baron Davis.

In Los Angeles, Josh Howard and the Dallas Mavericks came out of the Staples Center with a better result this time.

Howard scored 24 points and Dirk Nowitzki added 19 as the Mavericks exacted a measure of revenge on the Los Angeles Lakers with a thorough 108-72 thrashing, extending their franchise-record winning streak to 17 games.

One of the Mavericks' rare defeats came the last time they played the Lakers here.

On January 7, Dallas was dealt a 101-98 loss, blowing a nine-point lead and falling victim to a late three-pointer by Sasha Vujacic.

The Mavericks have regrouped nicely by winning 24 of 25 games since, losing only at Chicago on January 25.

On Sunday, they made sure the Lakers did not snap another mammoth winning streak.

Kobe Bryant scored 25 points for Los Angeles, who lost their sixth straight game.

Jamie Strickland
FIBA