Yao, Rockets defeat Warriors

Luther Head scored 26 points for the Rockets, who snapped a three-game losing streak. Rafer Alston scored 16 points and dished nine assists, while Juwan Howard scored 12 points.

"We had a good first half and the third quarter, but our patience was not good enough," Yao said. "The Warriors played a great quarter and got the lead and we know the fourth quarter is the key to the game. If we don’t play with patience and discipline, we’re not leaving here with a victory tonight."

Jason Richardson scored 29 points for the Warriors, who have dropped seven straight games. Derek Fisher scored 17 points, and Troy Murphy added 12 points and 12 rebounds. Mike Dunleavy notched nine points and nine assists in the loss.

"We play our butts off in the third quarter, we get back ahead and get control of the ball game. But we can’t sustain it," Warriors head coach Mike Montgomery said. "Yao is a problem for us obviously, no matter what we did, we were in trouble."

Back-to-back three-pointers by Alston and Head put Houston ahead, 96-91, capping a 10-0 run with 1:49 left to play.

Dunleavy cut the Warriors’ deficit to 96-93 on a sweeping layup across the lane with 1:12 remaining.

Alston scored a driving finger roll with 59.3 seconds left, however, and converted a pair of free throws with 4.6 seconds left to seal the win.

The Rockets closed the first-quarter scoring with a 13-5 run capped by a Howard fadeaway with 1:16 to go, and led 25-19 heading into the second.

Houston bolstered its lead with a 9-0 spurt sparked by an Alston jumper with 2:36 left, and led 55-45 at halftime.

Golden State opened the third quarter on an 11-3 run capped by a Murphy jumper with 8:57 left to cut its deficit to 58-56. The Warriors outscored the Rockets 31-18 in the stanza to lead 76-73 heading into the fourth, in which they got outscored by 10 points.

Houston played the fourth of a six-game road trip. The Rockets are 18-20 on the road this season. They will visit Sacramento on Sunday and Utah on Monday in the finale of the swing.

Golden State returned home after going 0-3 on a three-game road trip. The Warriors are 18-20 at home this season.

Game Notes

This was the fourth and final meeting of the season between the clubs. The teams split a pair of games at the Toyota Center, while the Rockets beat Golden State, 111-105, in overtime on December 14th at The Arena...The Rockets have won three of their last four at Golden State.