McGrady leads Rockets
Tracy McGrady showed his former team what he can do with some help.
Playing in Orlando for the first time since a bitter parting last summer, McGrady scored 27 points to lead a balanced offense and the Houston Rockets beat the Magic 108-99 on Thursday night.
Yao Ming added 20 points, and Bob Sura had 19 points, 11 rebounds and nine assists. David Wesley scored 18, and Juwan Howard 13.
It was McGrady’s insistence on playing with a decent supporting cast, something the Magic could never provide, that prompted his departure in a blockbuster, seven-player trade.
Yao made his first seven shots, which had to please McGrady. In Orlando, he quickly grew tired of looking inside and seeing has-beens (Patrick Ewing, Shawn Kemp) and role players (Andrew DeClercq, Michael Doleac).
Steve Francis, the biggest name Orlando received in the deal, led the Magic with 28 points and nine assists.
Grant Hill had 21 points on 10-of-16 shooting, the day after an MRI exam on his sore right wrist showed only a bruise. On Tuesday, Hill scored a season-low eight points on 4-for-14 shooting.
Mavericks 99, Clippers 77: At Dallas, Jason Terry scored 11 of his 15 points in the third quarter, when Dallas went ahead to stay in a win over suddenly struggling Los Angeles.
With Avery Johnson coaching while Don Nelson missed his first game after shoulder surgery, the Mavericks had a 14-6 run over the final 3:44 of the third quarter. Terry had half the points in the game-turning stretch.
Elton Brand had 24 points and 14 rebounds and Corey Maggette had 14 points for the Clippers.
Los Angeles has lost four straight games, and six of eight. The Clippers are three games less than .500 for the first time this season.
Kings 123, Cavaliers 96: At Sacramento, Calif., Mike Bibby had 17 points, 11 assists and 10 rebounds for the second triple-double of his career, and Sacramento shut down LeBron James and Cleveland for its sixth straight win. Chris Webber had 27 points for the Kings.
With Bibby leading the way, Sacramento racked up 34 assists and just eight turnovers in its highest-scoring game of the season.
McGrady sued for dog attack
Houston Rockets star Tracy McGrady is being sued by a man who had the tip of his nose bitten off by the player’s Rottweiler last year.
Fred Chamberlin, 57, was working at McGrady’s home in southwest Orange County on Aug. 24 when the dog attacked him.
The lawsuit, asking for unspecified damages, was filed Wednesday in Orange County Circuit Court.
Yao leads Shaq in All-Star voting
Yao Ming leads Shaquille O’Neal by more than 50,000 votes in the race for the No. 1 overall spot in the final days of NBA All-Star balloting.
With voting closing Sunday, Houston Rockets center Yao had 2,153,039 votes to lead the Western Conference, while the Miami Heat’s O’Neal topped the Eastern Conference with 2,099,201.
The closest race for a starting spot was for the second forward spot in the East. New Jersey’s Vince Carter had 1,505,169 votes, followed by Orlando’s Grant Hill with 1,273,846 and Indiana’s Jermaine O’Neal with 1,167,698.