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Rockets top Grizzlies for 4th straight win Yao Ming scored 28 points and Tracy McGrady had 23 points, eight rebounds and eight assists to lead the Houston Rockets to their fourth straight victory Wednesday night, 100-92 over Memphis to deny the Grizzlies a chance to clinch a playoff spot. Yao converted a three-point play with 69 seconds left, McGrady found Mike James wide open in the corner for a huge 3 and the Rockets made their final four free throws to hold off a furious second-half rally by the Grizzlies.
Mike Miller led Memphis with a career-high 37 points on 15-for-24 shooting but he missed his final two attempts in the Grizzlies' last ditch effort to overcome a 16-point deficit. Pau Gasol added 20 points and eight rebounds for Memphis.
The Grizzlies have lost the first two of a four-game road trip, keeping Minnesota alive in the battle for the eighth and final playoff spot in the Western Conference.
Memphis leads Minnesota by three games with four remaining and needs one victory or a loss by the Timberwolves to secure another trip to the postseason. The Grizzlies finish the road swing at Denver and San Antonio.
The Rockets have already clinched their second straight trip to the playoffs after failing to qualify from 2000-03, but find themselves in a tight battle for positioning with three games left.
Houston (48-31), which earned its playoff berth with a victory over Phoenix on Saturday, is in sixth place in the West and moved within one-half game of Sacramento (48-30). The Rockets hold a one-game lead over seventh-place Denver (46-31).
In a showdown of two of the leagues' top four defenses, the Rockets and Grizzlies came up with some impressive offensive spurts to keep the game interesting until the final few minutes.
Miller scored 13 points, including four 3-pointers, in the final 5:40 of the third quarter, helping Memphis trim the Rockets' lead from 16 points to three going into the final period.
Miller, who came in averaging 21.3 points on 58 percent shooting in the previous three games, was nearly unguardable down the stretch against Houston.
He hit a 3 with 4:07 left to cut lead to 83-82, scored another basket to keep the Grizzlies within a point and made a driving dunk with 41 seconds left to keep Memphis within striking distance — 93-90 — as the Rockets threatened to pull away.
Houston eventually did, getting a big 3-pointer from James to go up by six. Miller finally missed on the next possession and Houston's Jon Barry was sent to the free throw line to ice the game.
James finished with 15 points for the Rockets, and Bob Sura had 11 points, seven rebounds and six assists.
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