Rockets Survive Long-Range Plan

The way the Boston Celtics jacked up three-point shots was foreign to Yao Ming.

“I’ve never seen so many threes,” the 7-foot-6 center from China said after the Houston Rockets got 26 points from Steve Francis and overcame Boston’s three-point barrage to win, 101-92, Monday night at Houston.

Cuttino Mobley had 24 points, James Posey had 12 and Yao blocked five shots as the Rockets won their second in a row and sent the Celtics to their eighth loss in 10 games.

Boston attempted 33 three-point shots, tying the most by a Rocket opponent, and made 14 of them.

Antoine Walker and rookie J.R. Bremer made four apiece and Paul Pierce made three.

Pierce led Boston with 24 points, Walker had 23 and Bremer had 22 -- nearly doubling his total for the season -- in his first career start.

“I think we made good decisions on our threes. I don’t remember a three that we forced, until the end of the game,” Celtic Coach Jim O’Brien said.

Francis and Yao had big first quarters to give Houston a lead it never surrendered, but the Rockets couldn’t put much distance between themselves and the Celtics in the fourth quarter.

Walker’s fastbreak layup with 2:21 left pulled Boston to 89-87.

Francis answered with two free throws, Mobley made a long jumper, Kedrick Brown missed a three-pointer and Francis made another long jumper for a 95-88 lead with 52.7 seconds left to seal the victory.

Portland 118, Cleveland 94 -- Ruben Patterson, subbing for injured starter Bonzi Wells, scored 20 points and Zach Randolph had 18 at Portland, Ore., to lead the Trail Blazers to their 12th victory in 15 games.

Coming off a tough 82-81 loss in Denver on Friday night, Portland put this one away in the first half with a 19-5 second-quarter run. Patterson’s layup made it 65-39 late in the period.

Memphis 110, Golden State 108 -- Gordan Giricek made an uncontested layup with one second left at Oakland, and the Grizzlies improved to 2-16 on the road.

Giricek scored 20 of his 22 points in the second half. Pau Gasol had 23 points and 12 rebounds for his fourth straight double-double as Memphis ended a three-game losing streak.

Minnesota 89, Denver 75 -- Anthony Peeler scored 20 points off the bench and Kevin Garnett had 14 points and 15 rebounds to lead the Timberwolves at Minneapolis.

Without starting point guard Troy Hudson, who hurt his left ankle less than a minute after tipoff, the Timberwolves fell behind, 21-6. Minnesota trailed by 10 in the third period, but a 12-2 run that bridged the third and fourth quarters put the Timberwolves ahead, 77-67.

Chicago 101, New York 94 -- Jalen Rose scored 28 points and Tyson Chandler had a career-high 19 rebounds at Chicago, and the Bulls kept themselves from blowing a 20-point fourth-quarter lead to defeat the Knicks.

Chicago’s Marcus Fizer scored 12 of his 14 points in the last quarter, and the Bulls withstood six three-pointers by the Knicks in the last four minutes. Latrell Sprewell’s three-pointer cut the lead to five with 31 seconds left, but Jamal Crawford made two free throws and Chicago finally sewed up the win.

Detroit 101, Orlando 86 -- Richard Hamilton scored 27 points and Ben Wallace had 19 rebounds to lead the Pistons over the Magic at Orlando, Fla.

Hamilton scored 23 of his points in the second and third quarters, when the Pistons rallied from a 13-point deficit to take control. Cliff Robinson had 17 points and Chauncey Billups 16 for the Pistons, who have won five of six.