The Houston Rockets may have lost more than a game on Wednesday night.

Kobe Bryant scored 30 points and the Los Angeles Lakers took advantage of Tracy McGrady's injury to beat the Rockets 93-90 on Wednesday night.

McGrady, the league's leading scorer coming into the game, strained his right elbow late in the first half when he reached in on Luke Walton. The Houston star was taken to a hospital for tests and his status beyond Wednesday's game wasn't immediately known.

The Rockets struggled with their shooting all night, finishing 30-of-85 (35 percent). Yao Ming had 24 points, 11 rebounds and five assists for Houston, but the stats were deceptive.

Harassed all night by Lamar Odom and Kwame Brown, Yao shot only 6-of-18. He also went 14-for-20 from the free throw line after coming into the game shooting over 90 percent.

Still, Houston had a chance to tie at the end. Yao missed a free throw on purpose, grabbed the rebound and passed to Rafer Alston, who missed a last-second 3-pointer.

Derek Fisher had 13 points and Odom added 10 points and seven rebounds for the Lakers.

Los Angeles built an 18-point lead in the first half without much help from Bryant, the league's second-leading scorer.

Bryant missed six of his first seven shots, but Houston missed nine of its first 10 shots in the second quarter, five of them layups. The Rockets trailed 41-29 after Jordan Farmar's bank shot with 6:58 left before halftime.

Later in the second quarter, Bryant hit three consecutive shots from the perimeter and found Fisher open for a 3-pointer that put Los Angeles up 52-35. McGrady sank a 3-pointer, but Bryant answered with a smooth fadeaway. Out of a time out, Fisher lobbed to Brown for an alley-oop dunk for a 56-38 lead.

That's when Houston's night really took a turn for the worse.

With 50 seconds left in the half, McGrady reached to swat the ball away from Walton. He hit Walton's arm instead and McGrady's arm snapped backward.

Brown fouled McGrady on the play and McGrady shot two free throws left-handed, making the first and badly missing the second. He went to the locker room before the half ended and was on his way to the hospital by the time the third quarter began.

The Rockets trailed 61-49 at the break, then opened the second half with a 19-8 burst. The suddenly sloppy Lakers coughed up five turnovers in the first eight minutes out of halftime and Alston's floater in the lane cut the Rockets' deficit to 69-68.

Bryant started the fourth quarter on the bench and the Lakers maintained a slim lead.

With McGrady out and Yao struggling, Bonzi Wells carried the Rockets' offense. He had eight points in the first five minutes of the final quarter and his driving layup tied the game at 79-all. Wells finished with 21 points and 10 rebounds.

Bryant returned with 7:58 remaining and sank a turnaround over Mike James. Alston answered with a drive at the other end.

Yao scored over the 6-foot-11 Brown with 5:44 left to put Houston up 83-81, the Rockets' first lead of the second half. Bryant hit a leaning jumper with 4:52 remaining to tie the game again.

Fisher and Bryant each hit a pair of free throws to push the Lakers' lead to 87-83.

The Rockets got within three, but Wells, Alston and Battier all missed 3-point tries in the final minute.

Notes: Wells recorded his second double-double of the season. ... Farmar grabbed a career-high nine rebounds. ... The Lakers snapped a three-game losing streak in the series. ... Yao missed a free throw with 5:56 left in the first half, snapping a streak of 35 consecutive makes.

The Houston Rockets already have two three-game winning streaks this season. They haven't had nearly as much success winning three in a row against the Los Angeles Lakers in recent years.

The Rockets look to win four straight against the Lakers for the first time in more than 12 years when the teams meet at the Toyota Center on Wednesday night in a rematch of their season opener.

Houston (6-2) began the season with a 95-93 win over Los Angeles (3-3) on Oct. 30 - its third straight win in the series - and went on to win its next two before suffering its first loss at Dallas on Nov 5. The Rockets had another three-game winning streak end with a 105-99 loss at Memphis on Tuesday night.

Houston will look to bounce back by trying to extend its winning streak against Los Angeles to four games for the first time since a six-game run from Jan. 18, 1993-March 24, 1994. Since then, the Rockets have won three in a row against the Lakers only three times.

Houston, though, will need to tighten its defense. The Rockets have given up more than 100 points only twice this season, and those lapses resulted in their only losses.

Before Memphis' 50.0 percent shooting performance Tuesday, Houston held each of its previous seven opponents to 46.8 percent or less. The Rockets had held each of their previous three opponents under 90 points.

On offense, meanwhile, Houston had one of its best games of the season, shooting better than 60 percent for much of the first quarter en route to a 53-49 lead at the half.

Tracy McGrady, who had 30 points in this season's first matchup with the Lakers, had 41 against the Grizzlies. He has scored 30 points in each of his last two games against Los Angeles, shooting 89.2 percent (25-for-28) from the free-throw line in those contests.

Rockets center Yao Ming, who is coming off 22-point effort, is averaging 31.6 points, 11.8 rebounds and 3.4 blocks in his last five games against the Lakers.

Kobe Bryant had a season-high 45 points in the season opener, but also committed five turnovers. He is averaging 42.8 points in his last four games against Houston, including two 53-point efforts.

Bryant, though, was held to 18 points in a 107-92 loss to San Antonio on Tuesday - well below the 30.4 points he was averaging coming in.

The Lakers scored more than 100 points in each of their previous four games, averaging 112.3 during that span. Los Angeles is 1-2 when it fails to reach 100 points.

"We just have to take some lessons from here and use them ... in future games," Bryant said. "For a young team like this one, it's important to play teams like the Spurs and learn those lessons and then apply them."

The Lakers struggled Tuesday despite the return of Kwame Brown and having Lamar Odom back for the second straight game.

Brown had seven points in limited minutes after missing two straight games with bursitis in his right heel. Odom, meanwhile, had 12 points after scoring 18 against Minnesota on Friday night in his first game after sitting out the beginning of the season following shoulder surgery last spring.