ROTATION: Starters -- Point guard Aaron Brooks, Shooting guard Ron Artest, Small forward Shane Battier, Power forward Luis Scola, Center Yao Ming. Bench -- Guard Kyle Lowry, Guard Von Wafer, Forward Carl Landry, center/forward Chuck Hayes.
PLAYER NOTES: --C Yao Ming bounced back from his slow Game 2, scoring 19 points and getting 14 rebounds. But he did not shoot as well as he had in Los Angeles -- he made 6 of 14 shots and by the end of the game was limping with a sore left foot.
--F Carl Landry, whose career playoff high had been 13 points, scoring 16 in the second quarter to help drive the Rockets' comeback from a 15-point deficit. He finished with 21 points, one shy of his career high, making 7 of 9 shots, and 10 rebounds. He could have scored more but made just 7 of 13 free throws.
--G Ron Artest topped 20 points, scoring 25, for the fourth consecutive game, his longest streak with the Rockets. Heading into the fourth quarter, however, he had made just 5 of 14 shots, and even with a late rush, he made just 10 of 23 in the game before he was ejected in the final minute because of a flagrant-2 foul.
MEDICAL WATCH:
--F Tracy McGrady (microfracture surgery, left knee) is out.
--C Dikembe Mutombo (rupture left knee tendon) is out.
