News / Sports
NBA Scores: McGrady and Ming Push Rockets Past Kings
Tracy McGrady scored 40 points grabbed 8 rebounds and dished out 10 assists while Yao Ming scored 18 points and grabbed 6 rebounds in 25 minutes of work as the Houston Rockets (48-29) beat the Sacramento Kings (31-45) 112-106 on Sunday.
After McGrady opened the scoring for the Rockets with a 16-foot jump shot Ming ran off 11 straight points for Houston to keep them in front of the Kings 13-11. Sacramento closed the quarter on a 9-2 run though and went into the second quarter with a 24-21 lead.
Luther Head gave the Rockets a 28-27 advantage with a three-pointer but the Kings used a 13-0 run to move up 12 with just over seven minutes remaining in the half. By the end of the quarter the Rockets were able to trim their deficit to seven as Tracy McGrady scored 10 points over the final four minutes.
McGrady scored 12 in the third quarter and a driving dunk from Chuck Hayes with 1:10 left on the clock gave the Rockets their first lead since the opening moments of the second period, 81-80.
Francisco Garcia opened the fourth quarter with a three-pointer for the Kings to grab the lead back but McGrady scored the next six points of the game to put the Rockets up 87-83 and they never trailed after the rest of the way. Garcia was able to tie the score at 89-89 moments later but the Rockets hit three three-pointers in just over a minute to build a seven point lead that the Kings couldn’t manage to challenge. Luther Head scored 10 of his 18 in the fourth quarter and dropped all four of his three-point attempts in the game.
Houston shot 50 percent from the field while the Kings hit just 39 percent of their field goal attempts.
