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Rockets top Mavericks, 101-83, to force Game 7
Tracy McGrady was not going to suffer through another first-round meltdown without a fight.
Playing with the desperation of a man on the brink of elimination, McGrady had 37 points, eight rebounds and seven assists to help the Houston Rockets avoid elimination with a 101-83 victory over Dallas tonight. The first-round series is now tied 3-3, with Game 7 in Dallas on Saturday. The winner will face top-seeded Phoenix in the Western Conference semifinals. Mike James came off the bench for 22 points and Jon Barry scored 12 of his 14 points in the fourth quarter for the Rockets, who have been bounced in the opening round in their last three playoff appearances. Houston last won a series in 1997, when the lineup featured Hakeem Olajuwon, Clyde Drexler and Charles Barkley. Jerry Stackhouse led Dallas with 21 points, and Dirk Nowitzki scored 19 on only 5-of-22 shooting as he continued his series-long struggles against McGrady's defense. Rockets fans who were disappointed by blown fourth-quarter leads in the last two home games, including a 20-0 run by Dallas in Game 3, were treated to an improbably dominant finish in this one. McGrady scored eight straight points, including two 3s, during a 19-0 spurt that turned a close game into a rout. Dallas could not stop McGrady with double teams, rough play or simply allowing him to fire away from outside. McGrady, who has never advanced past the first round in his eight-year career, came through in the clutch to avoid watching his team blow a two-game lead for the second straight time. It also happened when he played for Orlando against Detroit in 2003. Back then, he never had this kind of help: an All-Star big man in Yao Ming, a bench teeming with driven veterans, and a coach who once led an eighth-seeded team to the NBA Finals. After drawing a $100,000 fine — the largest ever assessed against a coach — for accusing officials of targeting Yao this postseason, Rockets coach Jeff Van Gundy was greeted by loud cheers during pregame introductions. That didn't stop Van Gundy from giving officials a mouthful after a hard foul on Yao midway through the second quarter that sent the 7-foot-6 center tumbling to the floor. Yao scrambled to his feet and stared down at Dallas' Josh Howard — a rare show of anger from the gentle giant — but was quickly escorted away by teammates. That foul seemed to wake up the Rockets, who soon took their first lead of the game on a three-point play by Ryan Bowen. McGrady finished with a flurry before halftime, hitting a 29-footer on one possession and nailing another 3 as he was fouled by Michael Finley. McGrady mugged for the crowd, then completed the four-point play to give Houston a 10-point lead. He even took on the task of slowing down Stackhouse, who made his first six shots, including two 3s, to push the Mavericks out to an 11-point lead early in the second quarter. But with McGrady finally shadowing him, Stackhouse made only three of his next 10 attempts. James scored 13 points in that quarter to provide the Rockets with their own spark off the bench, and Houston was back in the game. Finley hit a 3 with 5.2 seconds left in the third quarter to give Dallas a 70-69 lead going into the fourth, but the Rockets never trailed again after Barry connected on a 21-footer in the first minute of the quarter. The Rockets won without much help from Yao, who avoided foul trouble for the first time in the series but never seemed to find a rhythm. Yao finished with just eight points and five rebounds and sat out the entire fourth quarter as Van Gundy went with veteran Dikembe Mutombo.
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