The Dallas Mavericks evened up their series with the Houston Rockets by taking Game 4 by a final score of 97-93.

With the victory, road teams are now 4-0 in this series.

Jason Terry scored 32 points on an afternoon where Dirk Nowitzki had just 18.

Tracy McGrady scored 36, but struggled down the stretch.  Yao Ming had 20 points on just 7 shot attempts, as the Rockets couldn't get him the ball enough in the 4th quarter.

Game 5 will be in Dallas.

Keith Van Horn left the game with what was being termed a bad ankle sprain and is doubtful for Game 4. Van Horn was having a solid start with four points in seven minutes. But his first rebound sent him to the locker room.

He came down on Dikembe Mutombo's foot, spraining his left ankle. Van Horn did not return, although X-rays were negative.

Van Horn scored just 4 points in 7 minutes on Thursday.

Dirk Nowitzki hit a fade away jumper with 10.4 seconds left in the game to tie the score at 111-111, but with no timeout coming from Jeff Van Gundy, Tracy McGrady came off a Yao Ming screen and with no defensive help from Keith Van Horn, hit a 22-footer to take a 2-point lead with just 2.2 seconds left.

After having difficulty getting the ball inbounds, Michael Finley couldn?t convert a game-tying basket, and so the Rockets take a 2-game lead back to Houston.

Yao scored a game-high 33 points on 13-14 shooting, giving the Rockets an element that they have been uncertain about all season long and makes them take complete control of the series.

McGrady hit the game-winner to go with his 28 points, while they got 16 points from Jon Barry, 14 from Bobby Sura and 10 from Mike James.

Dirk Nowitzki has been nothing short of spectacular all season long as he finished in the top four in the NBA scoring race, and threw his name into the MVP race. But something has happened to Dirk since game one of the playoffs against the Rockets - Tracy McGrady is guarding him.

Dallas coach Avery Johnson was fined $10,000 for failing to leave the court in a timely manner on Saturday, the National Basketball Asscoiation announced Monday afternoon.

Johnson confronted official Joe Crawford after the Houston Rockets' 98-86 victory in the first game of the Western Conference first-round best-of-seven playoff series Saturday at American Airlines Center.

Johnson had to be restrained by a member of the Rockets' security team and Mavericks guard Devin Harris.

The Houston Rockets came out tough and controlled the game from the opening minutes, defeating the Mavericks in Dallas by a final score of 98-86.

Tracy McGrady led all scorers with 34 points on 14-27 shooting while Mike James pitched in 16 off the bench.

Dirk Nowitzki struggled, scoring 21 points on 5-19 shoooting.

The Mavericks will face a must win Game 2, as they can ill-afford to go down 2-0 as the series shifts to Houston.

No Ray Allen, no Rashard Lewis, no Tracy McGrady and a 106-78 Rocket win over the Seattle Supersonics.  

The Houston Rockets finished the season on a seven-game winning streak while the Sonics, hobbled by various injuries, finished a miracle season losing 10 of their final 14 games.

In McGrady?s absence, Mike James led the Rockets with 24 points and 5 other Rockets scored in double figures.

"Right now that is a big concern," Rockets coach Jeff Van Gundy said of McGrady's health. "This wasn't one of those fake sit out the last game things. I can't tell you what will happen."

New Jersey?s Jason Kidd and Houston Rockets? Tracy McGrady today were named the Eastern Conference and Western Conference Players of the Week, respectively, for games played Monday, April 11 through Sunday, April 17.

Kidd led the Nets into eighth place in the Eastern Conference with a 2-1 week, averaging a triple-double of 18.3 points, 12.3 rebounds and 10.0 assists in games against Indiana, Toronto and Philadelphia.  Kidd tallied 16 assists, 11 points and 10 rebounds against Philadelphia on April 17, marking an NBA-high eight triple-doubles this season and placing him fourth all-time with 67 triple-doubles in his career.  Kidd had season highs this week in points (29) and rebounds (15) against Indiana on April 13.

McGrady led the Rockets to a perfect 3-0 week against playoff-bound Seattle, Memphis and Denver.  He averaged a conference-high 31.0 points on 48.4% shooting, 7.0 rebounds, 6.7 assists and two blocks per game.  McGrady scored 38 points at Seattle on April 11 and 32 points against Denver on April 16, as Houston improved to 22-3 when he scores 30 or more points this season.

Other nominees for Eastern and Western Conference Players of the Week were Boston?s Paul Pierce, Denver?s Andre Miller, Detroit?s Ben Wallace, Miami?s Dwyane Wade, Philadelphia?s Allen Iverson, Phoenix?s Joe Johnson and Amare Stoudemire and Washington?s Antawn Jamison.

The Houston Rockets activated point guard Moochie Norris on Saturday and placed forward Vin Baker on the injured list.

The Rockets acquired both Norris and Baker from the New York Knicks just before the trade deadling, however neither player has seen much playing time.

Tracy McGrady and Mike James made the Nuggets feel Rocky Mountain Low.

McGrady and James combined for 55 points as the Rockets routed the Nuggets 115-87. The win put the Rockets 1 game ahead of the Nuggets and also gave them the tie-breaker, should they finish with the same record. Houston can clinch the 6th seed with a win or a Denver loss in the next 2 games.

Denver was led by Kenyon Martin?s 22 points and 9 boards, and Carmelo Anthony?s 16 points. The Nuggets were without starting center Marcus Camby, who sat out with a strained right hamstring.

Most Rockets? starters did not play many minutes. Bob Sura played just 13 minutes. Yao had a great night for is limited minutes: 13 points, 11 boards, and 5 blocks in just 23 minutes.