HOUSTON, Feb. 1 (Ticker) -- Lee Nailon was clutch, but he had a little help from Kenny Thomas.

Nailon scored 16 points, including the game-winning basket as time expired, giving the Charlotte Hornets a 73-72 victory over the Houston Rockets.

The second-year forward, who has spent the last two months starting for injured Jamal Mashburn, made 8-of-18 shots. His final four points came after Thomas made two costly mistakes.

The first came with the Rockets nursing an 70-68 lead with 51 seconds left. Thomas took a pass from Moochie Norris and lost track of the shot clock, resulting in a 24-second violation.

NBA.comTV highlights from Hornets-Rockets: 56k | 300k Elden Campbell scored 12 of his team-high 21 points in the first quarter to get the Hornets up early. Bill Baptist NBAE/Getty Images

Nailon answered with a mid-range jumper that tied the game with 20 seconds remaining.

After Nailon's game-tying shot, Stacy Augmon stole the ball from rookie Eddie Griffin, who was attempting to drive. But he was fouled by guard Cuttino Mobley and made the second foul shot that put Charlotte up, 71-70 with 18.1 seconds left.

The Hornets, who were without starting injured shooting guard David Wesley, shot just 41 percent (32-of-78). Coach Paul Silas said he knew this game would be a battle from the tip.

"I told the guys, `I knew it was going to be a dogfight,'" he said. "I know we're not a better team than they are when we're missing key guys."

Thomas, who had 12 points and 10 rebounds, made two foul shots that gave the Rockets a 72-71 lead with 5.1 seconds to go. After former Rocket Matt Bullard inbounded the ball to Elden Campbell, Thomas went for it and wound up deflecting the ball. It ended up in the hands of Nailon, who hit a 20-footer as the buzzer sounded.

After the game, guard Mobley regretted not helping center Kelvin Cato contain Campbell, who scored 21 points on 9-of-14 shooting.

"We should have helped Cato more than we did," he said. "We could have done more to help contain him (Campbell) earlier. But we just got it going too late. "

On the final play, the plan was to have Cato attempt to knock the ball away. He did, but Thomas' miscue dropped the Rockets to 5-18 in games decided by five points or less.

"I'm supposed to knock the ball away," Cato said. "I did what the coaches asked and I thought that the clock would run out. But that was a long five seconds. That's a tough way to lose. But it happens to everyone."

"First of all, I wasn't expecting that (to get the ball)," Nailon said. "I thought it was going into Campbell and hopefully he'd either make a shot or get fouled. But when I got the ball, I knew I had to get rid of it. I had to shoot it. All I saw was 3.3 seconds but I was so wide-open. It was amazing how open I was."

Despite the loss, Rockets coach Rudy Tomjanovich came away satisfied with a solid defensive effort from his young team.

"What's new? Another unbelievable exciting game," he said. "That's a tough way to lose but I'll take it that way. Cato did a good job deflecting it. Good defense created a chaotic situation there at the end."

Once again, the Rockets were without All-Star point guard Steve Francis, who again sat out with migraine headaches. It was the third time in two weeks he sat out with the ailment and Houston dropped to 1-19 without him.

Houston overcame a 62-57 deficit with 8:07 left. Consecutive 3-pointers by Mobley started a 13-4 run that gave the Rockets a 70-66 edge with 2:34 remaining.

Norris, who started for Francis, also hit a 3-pointer during that spurt and his 21-footer capped the run.

Houston shot 37 percent (26-of-70) and was held to its lowest total at home since managing a franchise-low 66 against Miami on December 21, 1996.