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Red-hot Rockets surge past Heat

Nov 25, 2008 - 5:50 AM By Christopher Stock PA SportsTicker Contributing Writer

MIAMI (Ticker) -- Yao Ming scored 28 points and Ron Artest added 20 as the surging Houston Rockets posted a 107-98 victory over the Miami Heat on Monday.

Yao added 12 rebounds and Luis Scola chipped in 11 points and 13 rebounds for Houston, who has won five of their last six games.

"I think for almost the first 10 games we were just playing with our talents, but not much with discipline and skill," Ming said. "I think we have done that very well on this trip and we need to keep doing that the rest of the season."

Miami (7-7) was unable to get an encore performance from Dwyane Wade, who scored 38 points in a win over Indiana on Saturday. Wade scored 23 points on 7-of-22 shooting.

"I just think he probably had an off night," said Artest, who guarded him most of the game. "He played really bad tonight. He didn't play like I'm used to seeing him play, but I guess it had a lot to do with the backline."

Heat rookie Mario Chalmers also scored 23 points, setting a new career-high, and six assists. Chalmers knocked down five 3-pointers.

"My teammates found me in good spots and I had the hot hand," Chalmers said.

A Chalmers' 3-pointer with 4:23 left in the game pulled the Heat within 90-85, but Carl Landry converted a three-point play and Yao made a lay-up to put the game out of reach.

Yao was 9-of-15 from the field, 10-of-11 from the line and also had four assists.

"Yao played great," Artest said. "I thought he could have played better. He still had 28 and 12, but he still could have played much better and he knows that."

Houston (10-5) hit five 3-pointers in the first quarter to take a 30-21 lead and led 56-48 at the break.

"We have to be a kind of team that disrupts and gets the other team off balance and we certainly didn't do that in the first half," Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said.

The Rockets stretched their lead to 69-56 in the third quarter following an 11-0 run as Yao scored nine points during the spurt and had 13 in the quarter.

"We're definitely looking to go to Yao," Rockets coach Rick Adelman said. "They've got to guard him and if he keeps making good decisions, we're going to be OK."

Yao's 28-point effort was the most since he scored 30 against Dallas on October 30.

"Yao is Yao. He's eight feet tall. There isn't much we can do," Heat rookie Michael Beasley said.