Compounding things, Artest struggled badly with his shot through 10 games and McGrady's sore left leg had him regularly stuck in single-digit scoring.

The answer became as obvious as the 7-foot-6 guy in the middle. The Rockets began to run their offense through Yao. Defenses went back to twisting themselves in knots to defend him, and suddenly, the Rockets had an offense.

It's not that simple, of course. They also began moving the ball more quickly to make it tougher on teams hoping to swarm Yao and still get back to stationary targets around him. He has been better at posting up, returning the ball outside and then posting up again with better position and with the double teams often scrambling back somewhere else.

Yao has been consistent and the threat of Yao has helped his teammates help him. With a three-game sweep of a road trip, the Rockets seem to have figured out who they are and how they want to play.

"I think on this trip we learned something," Yao said. "I think we found the way we're going to play basketball -- just use the advantage we have on the team and create open shots for teammates. For about our first 10 games we played with just our talent, not much with our team discipline, just skill, not passing the ball the way coach wants. I think we did very well on this trip.

"I think we are very clear where we're going to hit them."

ROCKETS 107, HEAT 98: The Rockets' lead, once as large as 13 points, was down to four. Tracy McGrady was done for the night, having played 31 largely ineffective minutes. Yao Ming was catching a few minutes of rest. And the Heat's Dwyane Wade seemed poised to take over.

But the Rockets surged, blowing the lead back open to 13 points and winning easily in the final minutes. Yao finished with 28 points, making 9-of-15 shots. Moving him inside forced the Heat to swarm him defensively, helping the Rockets make a season-best 52.6 percent of their shots.