When Yao was just coming back from his fractured leg, they were not going ask Yao to carry them, not right away.

Houston Rockets center Yao Ming (11) of China goes to the basket defended by Orlando Magic center Darko Milicic, right, of Serbia as Jameer Nelson (14) looks on in the fourth quarter in NBA basketball Sunday, March 11, 2007 in Houston. Yao scored 37 points in the Rockets 103-92 win. [Reuters]

By Sunday, with three games to work out the kinks, it was time. Against the formidable Dwight Howard, Yao scored 37 points and blocked four shots while driving the Rockets to a 103-92 win against the Orlando Magic before 18,135 at Toyota Center.

Yao made 14 of 22 shots against Howard, the top pick of the 2004 draft, and Darko Milicic, the second pick of the 2003 draft. Howard had 16 points and 12 rebounds, but did not play in the fourth quarter when the Magic made their run.

Tracy McGrady made just six of 17 shots for his 19 points and added 10 assists as the Rockets made 36 of 68 shots, moving to 16-1 when scoring 100 points or more at Toyota Center this season.

The Rockets had scored reliably through the night, and 3? minutes into the fourth quarter, they had their largest lead at 21 points (89-68). They had made 32 of 58 shots (55.2 percent), and Yao had put in consecutive jumpers to give him 30 points in 30 minutes.

Then the Rockets went cold. Jake Tsakalidis sank an 18-footer, offering no clue that the Rockets could struggle on Sunday. But in the next three minutes, they missed three shots and had consecutive moving-screen turnovers, as the Magic scored the next nine points to close to within 11.

The Rockets did not quite recapture the offensive roll with which they had built the 21-point lead, but McGrady sank a 3-pointer to stop the run. Yao added a pair of free throws. And the Magic missed their next four shots, falling far short of putting any real tension back into the game.

When the Rockets did fall into position to get themselves in trouble in the first half (with Yao getting his second foul in the first quarter and McGrady going out with two early in the second) they just passed their way to the sorts of shots they knocked down shots as they rarely have in a half this season.

With Yao making 7-of-8 and McGrady 4-of-7, the Rockets hit on 22 of 32 shots (68.8 percent.) They moved the ball so well, they had 17 assists in the first half.

But the most valuable stretch in building a 16-point lead and a 58-45 lead at halftime, might have been when McGrady was out and the Rockets had four turnovers in the first three minutes of the second quarter, with the Magic pulled to within four.

The Rockets then made five of their next six shots, with Kirk Snyder going from the inactive list on Friday to meaningful minutes on Sunday. He sank a 3-pointer to give the Rockets their first double-digit lead, 45-34, five minutes before halftime.

For most of the night, that was the Rockets' answer to almost everything. From the occasional flurry or turnovers that threatened to kick-start a Magic rally, the Rockets answered with a burst of scoring, usually by putting the ball in Yao's hands and letting him to go work.