HOUSTON -- When Lamar Odom put up a rare miss in the fourth quarter, Yao Ming didn't give him another chance to steal the game away from the Houston Rockets.\nYao rebounded the carom and went on to make the winning free throws with 15.2 seconds left, leading the Rockets to a 103-102 victory over the Los Angeles Lakers on Sunday.\n"I knew I could make that because I had missed too many before," said Yao, apparently unaware that he went 5-of-6 from the line en route to 23 points. "It's great to get the win."\nTracy McGrady had 21 points and Bob Sura had 19 points, 12 rebounds, eight assists and five steals for the Rockets, who have won four straight and eight of their last 10.\nLos Angeles forward Brian Cook missed a potential winning 3-pointer with 2.9 seconds to play, and the Lakers fumbled away the ensuing rebound as the clock expired.
Toronto makes a comeback, but loses\nTORONTO -- Dallas coach Avery Johnson tried to tell his team the Toronto Raptors would come back. The Mavericks heard him just in time to escape with a victory.\nDirk Nowitzki had 30 points to help Dallas outlast another Toronto rally, defeating the Raptors 122-113 on Sunday.\nToronto had won its previous two games after rallying from deficits of 22 and 19, and almost overcame a 25-point hole against Dallas. The Raptors cut it to four before Jason Terry's 3-pointer gave the Mavericks a seven-point lead with 36 seconds left.\n"I guess the guys didn't believe me, that that's just coach talking crazy," said Johnson, who coached his last game in relief of the injured Don Nelson. "We finally got the message, and held them off."\nNelson, who underwent shoulder surgery, will return for Tuesday's game against Chicago. Johnson went 7-3 in his absence.\nMichael Finley added 23 points for the Mavericks, who shot a season-high 60 percent from the field. Dallas had seven players reach double figures in scoring.\n"They made a hell of a run, but we stayed tough," Nowitzki said. "We got a couple of stops we needed and offensively we pretty much got what we wanted all game long. We shot 60 percent from the floor. That doesn't happen very much."\nChris Bosh had a career-high 29 points for the Raptors and Jalen Rose added 22.\nToronto coach Sam Mitchell cut his postgame press conference short after being asked what he thought were inappropriate questions.\n"I'm going to stop it at that before I take some of these mics and break them," said Mitchell, who didn't like it when he was asked about changing his starting lineup because of its porous defense.\n"Don't make me say what I was getting ready to say to you because they'll put me in jail," the first-year coach said.
Pacers snap streak against Hawks\nATLANTA -- Jermaine O'Neal scored 38 points to help Indiana beat Atlanta 84-79 Saturday night, the Pacers' second straight victory after a six-game losing streak.\nO'Neal capped his night with two clinching free throws with 3.3 seconds remaining.\nAnthony Johnson's putback with 5:19 remaining capped a 24-9 run for Indiana, which won its seventh straight against the Hawks and fourth straight in Atlanta.\nOn Friday night in Indianapolis, the Pacers beat Dallas 95-94 to end their longest losing streak in two years.\nAntoine Walker and Al Harrington each scored 26 points for the Hawks, who have lost three straight and 10 of 12. Walker's 3-pointer gave Atlanta its biggest lead at 59-51 with 3:04 left in the third quarter.\nHarrington missed a pair of free throws with 34.9 seconds remaining that could've cut the lead to 82-81. The 6-foot-9 power forward also was beaten on a jump ball by Johnson, a 6-foot-3 guard, that allowed O'Neal to hit a 15-footer from the right side that gave Indiana an 80-76 lead with 2:24 remaining.\nO'Neal was 7-for-9 in the second half.\nAfter Eddie Gill hit two free throws to bring the Pacers within six at the 1:46 mark of the third quarter, Indiana regained momentum with a five-point possession. Gill's 3-pointer from the left side cut it to 56-53 before Kevin Willis was called for holding and an ensuing technical foul that allowed Austin Croshere and Scot Pollard to each hit one free throw to make it 59-58.\nIndiana's Reggie Miller was 0-for-2 from the floor and finished with two points on a pair of free throws. Of Miller's 21 minutes, only six were in the second half, none in the fourth quarter. He played the final 4.5 seconds.
