Yao Ming scored 27 points, grabbed a season-high 18 rebounds and had a crowd-pleasing slam in the closing minutes to lead the Houston Rockets to an 89-75 victory over the San Antonio Spurs on Tuesday night.
After leading much of the game, the Rockets trailed 64-61 going into the fourth quarter. But they quickly regained the lead and won going away as the Spurs went scoreless over the final 2:43.
Yao rebounded a miss by Steve Francis with 3:04 to go and slammed it home, one of several highlight shots in the game. Francis added 18 points and six assists and Moochie Norris had 16 points.
Tim Duncan had 25 points and 12 for the Spurs, while former Rocket Kevin Willis added 12 points.
Houston built a 49-39 halftime lead on first-half shooting of Yao and Norris, but that 10-point edge faded in a 16-4 run by San Antonio to start the third quarter. Duncan scored eight straight Spurs points, and his two free throws gave the Spurs a 55-53 lead with 5:35 to go in the quarter.
Yao put on an entertaining show in the first half against David Robinson and Duncan.
Yao sank a jumper over Robinson and Duncan for his second basket of the game and drew a foul on Robinson in the process.
In the second quarter, Yao took a pass from Norris and then passed it back to him in the lane for an easy layup. Moments later Francis slipped a pass back to Yao under the basket for a slam.
Yao had 17 points at the half and Norris scored 12 second-quarter points to help the Rockets to their 10-point halftime lead.
(People?s Daily December 4, 2002)
