McGrady, Rockets pound Warriors

McGrady finished 13-of-25 shooting and Yao Ming scored 27 points with eight rebounds. Vassilis Spanoulis, Juwan Howard and Luther Head contributed 13, 11 and 10 points off the bench, respectively, for the Rockets, who have won two straight and six of seven.

Chuck Hayes added eight points and grabbed 15 boards in the win.

Houston shot 53.5 percent (45-of-84) from the floor.

Monta Ellis netted 19 points on 8-of-14 from the field while Baron Davis donated 18 points and Mickael Pietrus had 12 with eight boards for the Warriors, who have lost five of six in Houston.

Golden State head coach Don Nelson was denied of his 1,200th win for a fourth straight game. Nelson is one win away from becoming the second coach in NBA history to win 1,200 games in their coaching career. Lenny Wilkens is atop the list with 1,332 victories.

Yao’s turnaround jumper capped a 28-9 burst by Houston in the first quarter, but Golden State closed the gap to 35-20 on Ellis’ jump shot. In the second, McGrady drilled a jumper for a 28-point advantage — 56-28 — with 5:04 remaining to pace the Rockets to a 65-44 halftime lead.

Yao finished the half with 23 points while Davis had 14 for the Warriors.

Houston increased its cushion to 30 points, 84-54, in the third after McGrady nailed a dunk, layup and jumper in the span of one minute. Golden State, though, answered with a 10-2 spurt to cut its deficit to 22 points with 2 1/2 minutes left, but the Rockets led 93-68 after three.

Hayes’ hook shot opened up a 31-point lead for Houston midway through the fourth while the Warriors were never able to mount any offensive threat in the quarter en route to their fourth straight loss.

Golden State shot 39 percent from the floor.

Game Notes

Howard also had 11 rebounds...Houston has won six of its last eight against Golden State...The Warriors dropped to 1-5 on the road this season...Houston travels to Minnesota on Wednesday while Golden State hosts New Orleans/Oklahoma City on Saturday...Attendance was 14,109.