Rockets Add to Cavaliers’ Misery

Roused by the challenge of dueling with LeBron James, Tracy McGrady put on quite a show.

“Every time I face a guy like LeBron James, Kobe [Bryant] and those guys, you have to bring your A-game,” said McGrady, who scored 31 points in the Houston Rockets’ 99-80 victory over the visiting Cleveland Cavaliers on Thursday night. “You just have to up your level of intensity and focus and be ready to match their intensity as well.”

Houston shot 48%, outrebounded Cleveland by 11 and never trailed after the early minutes of the second quarter.

Cleveland lost its 10th straight road game after winning in interim Coach Brendan Malone’s debut against Detroit on Tuesday. The Cavaliers haven’t won on the road since Jan. 22 at Golden State.

Drew Gooden led the Cavaliers with 20 points and James had 19 points and eight assists.

“At home we play with a lot more intensity,” said Cleveland center Zydrunas Ilgauskas, who scored only five of his 16 points after halftime. “On the road we either turn the ball over too much or we shoot poorly.”

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Memphis 105, New Jersey 96 -- Jason Williams made his first eight shots, including a trio of three-pointers, and the Nets shot 70% in the first half at East Rutherford, N.J., en route to ending the Nets’ five-game winning streak.

Williams made eight of nine shots from the field, three of three from three-point range, and made his only free throw.

Lorenzen Wright also had 20 points for Memphis, which made 10 of 14 shots in the first quarter but held only a 26-24 lead.

Vince Carter led the Nets with 22 points.

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Sacramento 109, Dallas 101 -- Peja Stojakovic sank six three-point shots on the way to a season-high 38 points at Sacramento and the Kings broke the game open with a 16-4 fourth-quarter run to avoid a regular-season sweep by the Mavericks.

Dirk Nowitzki had 35 points for Dallas, which lost for the first time in four games since Coach Avery Johnson replaced Don Nelson.

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Seattle 96, Portland 91 -- Ray Allen returned from an ankle injury and had 19 points, and Damien Wilkins scored 21 after replacing Rashard Lewis early in the game as the visiting SuperSonics used an 18-3 third-quarter run to earn their fourth straight victory.

Lewis left only 10 minutes into the game because of left knee tendinitis. Allen returned after spraining his right ankle Sunday against the Lakers.

Portland has lost seven in a row and 11 of 12 since firing coach Maurice Cheeks and replacing him with Kevin Pritchard.

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Washington 85, Utah 84 -- Larry Hughes made a shot from the top of the key with 46.4 seconds left and the Jazz’s Keith McLeod missed a layup at the buzzer to give the Wizards their first victory at Salt Lake City since 1997.

Gilbert Arenas scored 29 and Hughes finished with 25. Hughes was almost the goat after McLeod stole the ball from him with about six seconds left. McLeod’s subsequent layup bounced off the backboard and rim as time expired.

Matt Harpring had 18 points for Utah, which lost forward Andrei Kirilenko for the season when he broke his left wrist on a fall 3:02 into the game. Kirilenko also missed 26 games earlier this season because of a knee injury.

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Charlotte 108, Orlando 94 -- Emeka Okafor had 23 points and 10 rebounds and Gerald Wallace scored 22 at Orlando, Fla., to help hand the Magic its ninth loss in its last 10 games.

Brevin Knight had 15 points, 15 assists and eight steals as Charlotte used a 12-2 fourth-quarter run to beat Orlando for the second time in four days and win on the road for only the third time.

Grant Hill had 28 points for the Magic, which dropped 1 1/2 game behind Philadelphia for the final Eastern Conference playoff spot.