HOUSTON (Reuters) – The Houston Rockets shrugged off the loss of Yao Ming to stun the top-seeded Los Angeles Lakers 99-87 on Sunday and level their Western Conference semi-final series at 2-2.
The Eastern Conference semi-final series between Boston and Orlando is also tied at 2-2 after the Celtics’ Glen Davis hit a jump shot at the buzzer for a 95-94 victory over the Magic.
Boston, the defending NBA champions, host Game Five today.
Houston guard Aaron Brooks scored a career-best 34 points in the shock home-court win over the Lakers. The Rockets coped well without Yao, who broke his left foot in Friday’s loss.
“We will never count ourselves out,” Brooks told reporters. “If anybody is ready for this it would be us.
“We’ve been through a lot this year. Mac (Tracy McGrady) being out, Deke (Dikembe Mutombo) being out, Shane (Battier) being out at the beginning of the year. Now we have Yao out. It seems like we keep going. We’re used to it.”
Houston scored the game’s first nine points and built a 29-point lead by the end of the third quarter.
“Playing the way we did the first three quarters was just incredible,” Rockets coach Rick Adelman said.
Battier added 23 points, including five three-pointers, and Luis Scola had 14 rebounds and 11 points.
Los Angeles scored 33 points in the fourth quarter but could not overhaul the Rockets.
“We blew a great opportunity,” the Lakers’ Kobe Bryant said. “I’ve been on teams that have made this dumb mistake before.”
Pau Gasol scored 30 points for the Lakers, who host Game Five on Tuesday, while Bryant had only 15, making just seven of 17 shots.
“They shot the ball extremely well to start the game to put us in a hole,” Bryant said. “I just don’t think we started the game with the right energy, the right focus.”
In Orlando, Paul Pierce had 27 points with Davis and Rajon Rondo scoring 21 each as Boston squeezed out the win.
