Houston wins despite free-throw futility

HOUSTON, Texas: Tracy McGrady scored 29 points and Yao Ming added 21 and 13 rebounds as Houston nearly entered the NBA record books for foul-shot futility before beating Detroit 80-77 on Wednesday.

The Rockets missed 14 of their first 15 shots from the line, before finishing 6-for-22 (27 percent) to win for the third time in seven games.

Houston's throwback uniforms were all too appropriate - the 1983 Rockets went 3-for-14 from the free-throw line (21 percent) in a game against Portland. Toronto is the only team in history to not make a free throw in a regular-season game, missing all three attempts in a game against Charlotte in 1996.

Even Yao Ming, an 88-percent shooter from the line, was off against the Pistons, hitting only three of his six attempts.

"Oh, man. We can lose a game because of that," Yao Ming told the Associated Press. "Tomorrow, I'm going to come here and shoot at least 100 free throws. It's almost like you give away free points and give away a game."

Good thing for the Rockets, the Pistons seemed to miss from everywhere else on Wednesday.

Rasheed Wallace scored 21, Chauncey Billups added 15 and Richard Hamilton had 14 for Detroit, which shot 36 percent (30 of 83) from the field and went 4-for-15 from three-point range.

"We did one good thing," Detroit coach Flip Saunders told the AP. "We defended very well at the free-throw line."

In Milwaukee, Michael Redd had 27 points, 10 rebounds and nine assists to help the Milwaukee Bucks snap a four-game losing streak with a 100-86 victory over the Orlando Magic on Wednesday night.

Yi Jianlian scored 18 points, Mo Williams had 15 and Andrew Bogut had 11 before fouling out in the fourth quarter for the Bucks, who were coming off a five-game road trip that ended with four straight losses.

Rookie Yi fell one point short of his career high, which he set in November against the Rockets. He shot 7-for-11 from the floor and added seven rebounds and a couple helpers in 34 minutes of action, certainly one of his best overall performances.

"After playing 20 games, there are a lot of things that are better than before," Yi told JSOnline. "I've gotten used to a lot of things on the court. Tonight we did a great job out there. We passed the ball and a lot of points came from the assists."

In Indianapolis, Kareem Rush scored 22 points to lead the Indiana Pacers to a 117-102 win over the Chicago Bulls in a wild game that featured five technical fouls and two ejections.

Jamaal Tinsley added 18 points and eight assists for Indiana in his first home game since he was shot at, but unharmed, early Sunday morning in downtown Indianapolis.

Ben Gordon led Chicago with 18 points, but he shot just 7-for-21 from the field.

In Philadelphia, Samuel Dalembert had 18 points, 11 rebounds and tied a career high with nine blocked shots and Andre Iguodala scored 25 points as Philadelphia edged Minnesota 98-94.

Willie Green added 18 points, and Andre Miller had 10 to help the suddenly surging Sixers improve to 9-13 after a season-high fourth straight win.

Al Jefferson had 22 points and 11 rebounds for the Timberwolves. Rashad McCants scored 15 and Marko Jaric and Antoine Walker had 14 each for Minnesota.

In Toronto, Kris Humphries had 16 points and 12 rebounds, Chris Bosh scored 17 points and Toronto beat Dallas for the first time in more than four years 92-76. The Raptors' last win over the Mavericks was a 77-71 victory on November 6, 2003.

In Charlotte, Raymond Felton scored 26 points and keyed a fourth-quarter surge to lead the Bobcats past the Los Angeles Clippers 108-103.

Emeka Okafor added 25 points and 16 rebounds and Gerald Wallace scored 25 points for the Bobcats, who won for only the second time in 10 games.

In Boston, rookie Glen Davis had 16 points and nine rebounds, and made all 10 of his free throws as Boston remained unbeaten at home with a 90-78 win over the Sacramento Kings.

Boston improved to an NBA-best 18-2.

In Phoenix, Steve Nash - playing half the game with a chipped front tooth - had 29 points and 11 assists as Phoenix defeated Utah 103-98.

Nash chipped his tooth when he took an inadvertent forearm from Carlos Boozer while pulling down a rebound late in the first half. The two-time MVP handed the tooth to trainer Aaron Nelson, then conducted a live interview with ESPN before heading to the locker room.

Agencies

(China Daily 12/14/2007 page24)