McGrady bottled up Lamar Odom in the closing seconds and the Houston Rockets recovered after nearly collapsing in the fourth quarter for a 103-102 victory over the Los Angeles Lakers.
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Los Angeles had the ball for the final shot and McGrady picked up Odom on the right wing, refusing to let him get to the rim. Odom backed down McGrady and passed to the top of the key to Brian Cook, whose 3-pointer went in and out. The rebound went out of bounds as time expired.
"I hate games like that, I really do," McGrady said. "We've just got to keep it interesting, huh? For the most part, I thought we played well and in the fourth quarter it was the Lamar Odom show. He basically took over the game and we did not have an answer for him. He was making things happen. We had them down 15 in the fourth quarter and by the end, they had the lead."
Odom sparked the fourth-quarter comeback with 14 points in the final 12 minutes. The Lakers took a 100-99 lead on a 3-pointer by Chucky Atkins with 1:54 to play, and two free throws by Atkins extended the lead.
But Los Angeles did not score again and Houston scored its final four points from the line to win its fourth straight game.
"When you play well enough to win and then you don't, it really hurts," Odom said. "You just know you had the game won and then it got away. It was a good try, but we fell short. We can't drop our heads, but we did put ourselves in a big hole in the first half."
Bob Sura, who was just two assists shy of a triple-double, and Yao Ming both drained a pair of free throws in the final minute to seal the win for the Rockets, who did not make a basket in the final 5:40.
"I was ready and I knew I could make them because I felt that I had already missed too many before," Yao said. "It's good to get a win even when you feel like you did all the wrong things all afternoon. Basketball is like that. You have to work through it and I think we did."
The two-time defending scoring champion, McGrady scored 21 points but made just 8-of-24 shots. Yao scored 15 of his 23 points in the first half. Sura had 19 points, 12 rebounds, eight assists and five steals.
Odom scored 22 points and Atkins 21 for the Lakers, who fell to 5-6 without Bryant and 2-2 under interim coach Frank Hamblen.
"I like the fact that we battled back but I didn't like that we got down by 16 before we fought back," Hamblen said. "Our guys played really hard and we outrebounded them, 54-36. Our turnovers turned into 27 Houston points and you just can't do that and win. We can't turn the ball over, especially on the road."
Rockets coach Jeff Van Gundy was happy with the win but admitted his team was lucky.
"We did in the second half the things that you do to lose, and we got fortunate when that last shot by Cook rimmed out," Van Gundy said. "We got hammered on the boards but we didn't turn the ball over, and that is what saved us today. We're happy with the win, with any win, but we're playing with fire right now."