Yao overwhelms Heat, O’Neal in 94-72 victory

Shaquille O’Neal was dominated, but he wasn’t impressed.

Yao Ming won his matchup with O’Neal, finishing with 34 points and 14 rebounds Sunday night to lead the Houston Rockets to their fourth straight victory, 94-72, over the Heat at Miami.

“He’s pretty much the same, just big, 7-6,” O’Neal said. “He’s just doing what he’s supposed to do.”

Yao scored 20 points in the second half, when Houston outscored Miami by 25 points.

“My only chance against Shaq is to keep him on the run,” Yao said. “Shaq is much stronger and bigger than me. My only chance on beating him is to keep running and running against him.

“Every time I score on him I was happy like a kid, like a kid getting candy on Halloween because it’s really too hard to score on him, too hard. He’s just great.”

Dwyane Wade led Miami with 24 points, but had only eight in the second half, when Miami shot 33%.

“We were a little flat on offense, our offense wasn’t as crisp,” Wade said. “Yao hit some tough shots to give them the lead. They were good.”

O’Neal’s field goal early in the third quarter moved him past Patrick Ewing for 14th on the NBA’s career scoring list with 24,817 points. But he finished with only 15 points and now has 24,820.

Yao frustrated the Heat with short jumpers and layups. He made 11 of 19 shots from the field and 12 of 13 from the free-throw line. His second-half dominance revived the Rockets after their first-half struggles.

After trailing nearly the entire first half, the Rockets outscored the Heat, 21-14, in the third quarter and never trailed after Rafer Alston’s three-point basket with 1:27 left in the period.

Sacramento 107, Toronto 92 -- Kevin Martin had 26 points, six rebounds and made all eight of his free throws to help the Kings extend their home winning streak against the Raptors to nine games.

Ron Artest made his first six shots and had 23 points. Mike Bibby added 21 to help keep the Kings unbeaten (3-0) at home this season.

Chris Bosh had 19 points for Toronto. T.J. Ford added 12 points, seven assists and six rebounds but committed eight of the Raptors’ 19 turnovers.

New Jersey 105, Washington 93 -- Vince Carter’s 34 points included a buzzer-beating three-pointer to force overtime, and Jason Kidd’s 77th career triple-double included 18 assists, leading the Nets at Washington.

Kidd also had 15 points and 11 rebounds to move one behind Wilt Chamberlain for third on the career triple-double list.

The Nets dominated overtime, led by Carter’s eight points and Nenad Krstic’s six.

Gilbert Arenas had 25 points but made only six of 23 shots as the Wizards failed to start 4-0 at home for the first time since the 1974-75 season.

Denver 108, Charlotte 101 -- Carmelo Anthony scored 36 points and the Nuggets forced the Bobcats into a franchise-worst 29 turnovers at Charlotte, N.C.

The Nuggets scored 26 points off Charlotte’s miscues to pick up their second straight win after an 0-3 start.

Brevin Knight scored 21 points but had seven turnovers, and Emeka Okafor had 22 points and 15 rebounds for the Bobcats, who have lost three in a row.

Rookie Adam Morrison struggled again, scoring two points on one-for-eight shooting.

Dallas 103, Portland 96 -- Dirk Nowitzki had 26 points and 10 rebounds and the Mavericks held on at Portland, Ore.

The Mavericks took their biggest lead at 83-68, but the Trail Blazers cut it to 86-85 with 2:21 left before Dallas spurted for good.

Zach Randolph had 20 points and nine rebounds for Portland. LaMarcus Aldridge, the second pick in last summer’s draft, made his Trail Blazers debut after a shoulder injury, finishing with 10 points and eight rebounds in 19 minutes.