Houston 90, Memphis 87 T-Mac Hurt in Rockets Victory HOUSTON, Nov. 9 (Ticker) -- After the Houston Rockets lost All-Star Tracy McGrady for the fourth quarter, Juwan Howard helped them win. Howard scored 10 of his season-high 20 points in the final period as the Rockets won their third straight game, escaping with a 90-87 triumph over the winless Memphis Grizzlies. After McGrady, a two-time scoring champion, went to the locker room with an apparent hip injury after the third quarter, Howard scored eight of Houston's first 10 points in the fourth period. He hit a pair of free throws with 6:57 remaining to tie it, 78-78, and start a decisive 11-0 run. Acquired with McGrady in an offseason trade with Orlando, Howard hit a layup 29 seconds later to give the Rockets the lead for good. Charlie Ward followed with a 3-pointer. Howard said he did not feel any extra pressure without McGrady in the lineup, although he is still adjusting to his role as a non-starter. "That is what team basketball is all about," Howard said. "We have a lot of depth, a lot of talented players on this basketball team. If a player goes down with an injury the rest of us have to be ready to step up every night. Coming off the bench is something new to me. You just go out there and try to find ways to stay loose and stay active." McGrady played through the injury in the first half, but left the court before the start of the fourth quarter. He said that his status for Thursday's home game against Minnesota is still up in the air. "Right now, I don't know if I will be ready to go next time," McGrady said. "But right now, we'll treat it and see how it is tomorrow. As of now, I don't think I could play, but I don't want to look at it like that. I definitely want to come out and try to play Thursday. McGrady is upset with the timing of the injury. "It's early, but it is pretty aggravating," McGrady said. "The thing about it right now is that guys are really starting to come together and come to our own. We are playing good basketball, and for this to happen, it's really disappointing to me." Yao Ming scored the next four points, including a one-handed follow dunk. Howard capped the run with a pair of free throws, giving the Rockets an 87-78 lead. Yao had 14 points and 11 rebounds before fouling out with just over one minute to play. Jim Jackson added 11 and nine for Houston, which outrebounded Memphis 39-29. Houston coach Jeff Van Gundy was happy to get the win without having his top scorer available in the fourth quarter. "It's a great win. I'm happy. I really am," Van Gundy said. "We didn't compete as hard as they did in the first half. Usually just playing good for 24 minutes is not good enough against most teams, but tonight it was." Stromile Swift scored 18 points and Pau Gasol added 15 for Memphis (0-4), which led after each of the first three quarters. Swift sank his first 12 free throws before missing with the Grizzlies trailing 89-86 with 29 seconds remaining. "We gave ourselves a chance to win, but we waited too long," Swift said. "Too many turnovers killed us in the end. " "Our defense has to continue to be like it was tonight," Gasol said. "It was excellent the entire game and we played better tonight that we did in any of our other three games. We played as a team." The Grizzlies led by as many as 10 points in the first half before the Rockets made a mini-run to get back in the game. Jackson hit a 3-pointer during the run and McGrady added three points before Memphis recovered to take a 51-47 lead into the break. --

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