Yao will Pound Clippers' Premiere Brand

Tracy McGrady was not in his usual form against the New York Knicks but luckily for the Houston Rockets, there was one Chinese giant playing for them.

Yao Ming led the Rockets with 24 points, eight rebounds and four blocks that literally carried his team over the struggling New York Knicks, 90-83, at the Toyota Center.

David Wesley dropped 15 points for the Rockets, who have won two straight despite All-Star Tracy McGrady scoring just seven points. McGrady shot a miserable 3-of-20 from the floor, but did have seven rebounds and six assists.

''If we want to be a great team, we can not play without Tracy,'' said Yao. ''Tonight we were able to win. Even without his great scoring, we were able to play great defense.''

Quentin Richardson had 19 points and Jamal Crawford tallied 15 for the Knicks, a team continually dropping back with a nine-game losing streak and lost a whopping 15 of 16 games.

The Rockets led 47-46 at the start of the third quarter when they went on an 11-1 run to begin to pull away. Yao scored four points during the run, which he capped with a bucket at the 7:26 mark.

Houston kept the Knicks at bay the rest of the stanza and went into the fourth with a 69-60 lead.

New York cut the deficit to 71-64 early in the final quarter, but Rafer Alston hit a three-pointer with close to 9 1/2 minutes left to extend the lead to 10 points and the Rockets cruised to the finish.

''We had a horrible third quarter, and that has been our M.O. this year,'' said New York head coach Larry Brown.

On Tuesday, the proverbial M.O. For the Houston Rockets is to slow down a red-hot Los Angeles Clippers team. Elton Brand is playing an MVP-type season this year. Luckily for Houston, they have a brick wall, over seven feet high, to slow down L.A.'s premiere Brand.