Tracy McGrady scored 20 his 45 points in the fourth quarter and had 12 rebounds to help the Houston Rockets pull away for a 116-98 victory over the Denver Nuggets on Sunday night.

Houston Rockets guard Tracy McGrady , left, is congratulated by guard Jon Barry after McGrady's 45-point performance to lead the Rockets to a 116-98 victory over the Nuggets in Denver on Sunday, Jan. 9, 2005.

Houston jumped out to a 17-point lead early, let the Nuggets climb back in the third quarter, then pulled away when McGrady took over.

He hit four 3-pointers and was 7-of-9 overall in the fourth quarter, reaching 40 points for the third time this season - second in five games. McGrady finished 15-of-26, had five assists and blocked three shots.

Yao Ming added 21 points and seven rebounds for Houston, which shot 51 percent and made 11-of-19 from 3-point range.

Denver has lost four straight and 10 of 11, and this one looked a whole lot like the rest.

The Nuggets fell behind early, rallied to make it close and didn't have enough left to finish it off. Carmelo Anthony had 27 points on 7-of-20 shooting, and Kenyon Martin added 15 points and 10 rebounds.

The game got tight and testy in the third quarter, with plenty of pushing, jawing and technicals.

Houston's Bobby Sura and Denver's Nene were hit with technicals for pushing each other down the court early, then Nuggets coach Michael Cooper was hit with one for coming onto the court after a series of calls went against his team.

Sura was involved in another scuffle late in the quarter when he fouled Anthony hard on a layup. Anthony, who sprained his ankle on a similar foul by Sura the last time these teams met, shoved Sura to the floor and was called for a technical.

And they weren't done. Another set of technicals were called shortly after that, this time when Houston's Maurice Taylor and the Nuggets' Francisco Elson got tangled.

By the time the quarter was over, Denver had trimmed Houston's 17-point lead to 75-73.

The Nuggets just couldn't keep it up.

Houston opened the fourth quarter with a 13-2 run, going up 88-75 on McGrady's tough reverse across the lane with 8 1/2 minutes left. McGrady didn't give the Nuggets much of a chance from there, hitting 2-of-3 free throws, a long jumper and a 3-pointer to put Houston up 99-85 with 4 1/2 minutes left. He added two more 3-pointers and an off-balance jumper to seal the victory.

Source: Agencies/Chinadaily