McGrady leads Rockets past Wolves; Yao had 13
(AP)
Updated: 2005-11-16 11:38

Houston was without its All-Star for three games, but the effort has been lethargic most of the season. Asked before tipoff for his thoughts on the NBA's installation of the daily, three-player inactive list, Van Gundy quipped, "We've been a team on the inactive list. It hasn't been three guys. It's been 15."

Though still far from perfect, this was certainly a better performance for a team that Van Gundy called "Rockets gone wild" last week.

The Wolves, who lost at home for the first time in four tries, wanted to push the ball and exploit Houston's lack of speed, but they seemed to get bogged down by their opponent's slow pace at times and never could break away.

McGrady made three free throws with 9:36 left to give the Rockets their first lead, 74-71. Stromile Swift hit a jumper on the next possession to push the lead to five.

Though the Rockets never led in the first half, they tied it at 39 on a three-point play by Yao with 3:13 left before the break.

But Minnesota closed the second quarter with an 8-0 run, and Houston showed some of the sloppiness that it's been hounded by during this frustrating start to the season. McGrady had three of his team's five turnovers during that stretch, the first coming on a risky pass that was intercepted by Hassell at midcourt and taken the other way for a three-point play when McGrady fouled him during a layup.

Garnett finished the spurt with a shot-clock beating 21-footer, giving the Wolves a 47-39 lead.

Iverson, 76ers keep Raptors winless

PHILADELPHIA - Allen Iverson scored 34 points and added 12 assists, Chris Webber had 28 points and 16 rebounds and the Philadelphia 76ers won their fifth straight game, 104-92 over the winless Toronto Raptors on Tuesday night.

Since losing their first three games, the streaking Sixers have been perfect. They won all four games on their longest homestand of the year and get the downtrodden Raptors again Wednesday night in Toronto.