Los Angeles - The Houston Rockets picked up the win, but may have lost one of their All-Stars, indefinitely. Argentina's Luis Scola scored a season-high 23 points, and the Rockets pulled away in the second half without injured Tracy McGrady to roll past the slumping Oklahoma City Thunder 100-89 on Monday night.
"Luis made big plays for us all night long," Rockets coach Rick Adelman said. "They were trying to protect Yao, and Luis was the guy that was open."
China's Yao Ming had 19 points with 12 rebounds for Houston (7-4). Ron Artest finished with 17 and 11 boards but limped of the court with a left ankle sprain in the final minute of play.
McGrady injured his surgically repaired left knee in the opening minute of the third quarter after sending a pass over to Scola.
"My knee just gave out on me," said McGrady, who had the surgery six months ago. "I have never been 100 per cent but I have been trying to work my way into playing shape and strengthen my leg."
"I have just been hoping playing on it would put me over the edge and I won't have any more pain, but it hasn't worked."
The disappointed McGrady will have tests to determine the severity of the injury.
"My knee is feeling right and I hate to do this, but I am going to get an MRI on it and hope that there won't be any structural damage," he said. "Until further notice, I'm going to shut it down. It's very frustrating. I want to play.".
McGrady, who finished with eight points in 18 minutes, offered to go back in the game. Adelman, however, kept him out the rest of the way as the Rockets handed the Thunder its eighth straight loss.
"Tracy said his knee was sore, and to put him back in when he's limping and it's bothering him makes no sense to me," Adelman explained.
"We were better with him out. He said he could go back in, but we had the lead, so he was better off on the bench."
The Rockets led 56-50 at half-time before taking control at the start of the second half. Without McGrady, they opened the third quarter on a 16-4 run, behind six points by Scola to go up 72-54 at the 5:37 mark.
The Thunder used a 14-3 run to close within 82-74 on Russell Westbrook's layup with 10:53 remaining. But Yao, Rafer Alston and Chuck Hayes scored to trigger a 12-4 burst, as the lead grew to 94-78 with 3:29 remaining.
Kevin Durant tossed in 29 points for Oklahoma City (1-10) and Jeff Green added 16.
Elsewhere:
Utah Jazz 109, Phoenix Suns 97
CJ Miles scored a season-high 21 points while Carlos Boozer also had 21 points along with 15 rebounds as the Jazz pulled away from the Suns to snap a three-game slide.
Russian Andrei Kirilenko added 19 points for Utah (7-4), which improved to 5-0 at home despite playing without injured starters Deron Williams (ankle) and Turkey's Mehmet Okur (stiff back).
The Suns crept to within two on a three-pointer by Matt Barnes in the fourth quarter. However, the Jazz went on a game-sealing 17-2 run, capped by three blocks, two by Kirilenko and one by Paul Millshap, on 7-foot-1 (2.16-metre) giant Shaquille O'Neal.
Amare Stoudemire topped Phoenix (8-4) with 30 points and eight rebounds. Steve Nash had 14 points and eight assists, while O'Neal finished with just nine points.
San Antonio Spurs 86, LA Clippers 83
Roger Mason's three-pointer with 8.4 seconds remaining, gave the short-handed Spurs their nine consecutive win and 18th in the last 19 meetings over the sinking Clippers.
After Mason's jumper, the Clippers had a final shot to force overtime. However, Baron Davis rushed three-point try missed at the buzzer.
Tim Duncan had 20 points, 15 rebounds and six blocked shots while Michael Finley added 19 points for visiting San Antonio (5-5) which won its third straight game without injured All-Stars Tony Parker and Manu Ginobili.
Cuttino Mobley led the Clippers (1-9) with 18 points, while Chris Kaman finished with 17 and 13 rebounds..
