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McGrady leads Rockets past Cavaliers with 34 points

Posted on: Friday, 6 January 2006, 00:04 CST

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Tracy McGrady scored 34 points and Rafer Alston added 18 as the Houston Rockets edged the Cleveland Cavaliers 90-81 in National Basketball Association play on Thursday in Cleveland.

Juwan Howard added 16 points and had nine rebounds for the Rockets, as their top three scorers accounted for 68 of Houston's 90 points.

But it was the Rockets' tenacious defense that made the difference as Houston held Cleveland to just 35 points in the first half and to 43 percent shooting in the game.

LeBron James had 32 points for the Cavs and hauled down nine rebounds, with most of his production coming in the second half as Cleveland tried to rally from a 14-point first-half deficit.

James was coming off a triple-double on Tuesday night against Milwaukee, but Larry Hughes broke his finger in that game and will be sidelined from six to eight weeks.

The Cavaliers missed his presence on Thursday, losing for just the second time in their past 10 games.

Zydrunas Ilgauskas added 17 points and 10 rebounds for Cleveland, while Donyell Marshall was the only other Cavalier in double figures, scoring 11 points.

Cleveland (19-11) trails Detroit by seven games in the Central Division standings after the loss.

The Rockets won their second straight game for only the third time in their past nine as they improved to 12-18.

Houston was once again without the injured Yao Ming, but McGrady helped make up for his absence by scoring more than 30 points for the fourth straight game.

(Writing by Roger Lajoie in Vancouver)

Source: REUTERS

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