(Agencies)
Updated: 2007-11-12 11:30

CHARLOTTE, N.C. - Yao Ming scored a season-high 34 points, including a pair of free throws with 20.4 seconds left, and the Houston Rockets rallied in the fourth quarter to beat the Charlotte Bobcats 85-82 on Sunday night.

Houston Rockets Yao Ming of China laughs while playing the Charlotte Bobcats during the first half of their NBA basketball game at Charlotte Bobcats Arena in North Carolina November 11, 2007. [Agencies]

Tracy McGrady scored 12 of his 26 points in the final period and the Rockets fought back from a seven-point deficit to win their third straight game.

Matt Carroll scored 17 points for the Bobcats. Jason Richardson and Raymond Felton had 16 points each, Gerald Wallace scored 10 and Emeka Okafor finished with 12 points and 11 rebounds.

Carroll's 3-pointer gave Charlotte a 74-67 lead with 6:07 remaining, but McGrady scored nine points during an 11-4 run that tied the score at 78 with 1:24 left.

Richardson hit a driving layup to put the Bobcats back on top 80-78 with 1:07 remaining, but McGrady made a 3-point play 13 seconds later to give the Rockets the lead again.

Charlotte took its last lead with 38.1 seconds remaining on a pair of Felton free throws, but Ming's free throws put Houston back on top. Mike James then hit two more free throws with 2.3 seconds left to give the Rockets a three-point lead, and Shane Battier swiped the inbounds pass to seal the win.

The two sides swapped the lead five times and tied the game four other times during the first quarter and the opening minutes of the second period, but Richardson and Carroll keyed a 25-19 run that put the Bobcats ahead 40-35 at the break.

Carroll kicked off the run with a pair of free throws to put Charlotte ahead 17-16 with 10:03 left, and Richardson — who scored 10 of his 14 second-half points during the run — hit a 3-pointer with 2:36 remaining that gave the Bobcats a 40-30 lead, their biggest of the half.

McGrady also gave Houston its first lead of the second half, with his tip-in with 8:51 left capping a 10-4 run to open the third quarter and putting the Rockets up 45-44. But Felton hit a jumper with 8:13 left to put Charlotte back in the lead.

The Bobcats took their biggest lead of the second half when Wallace hit a jumper with 10:26 remaining to make the score 69-60.