Rockets rout Cavaliers

Houston's Chinese star centre scored 10 points in the third quarter to match Cleveland's entire offensive output in the period, the Rockets breaking open a tight game with a 23-10 scoring edge in the third quarter for a 68-50 lead.

James finished with 21 points on 7-of-21 shooting, managed to pull down only one rebound and went without an assist for the first time in his NBA career after 446 games in a row with at least one.

The Cavaliers fell to 44-12, still the second-best record in the league to the Los Angeles Lakers and the top mark in the Eastern Confernece.

The Rockets won their sixth game in a row and improved to 37-21, fourth in the Western Conference, with their 21st home win in 24 games.

Cleveland's title hopes suffered a major setback when power forward Ben Wallace suffered a fractured right fibula after being accidentally kicked by Yao in the second quarter.

Wallace tried to play through the pain but went to the locker room, where the injury was diagnosed during the second half. He would later return to the team bench on crutches.

James was slowed with foul trouble, picking up his fourth just 3:27 into the second half. That kept James from driving to the basket and combined with poor shooting from the rest of the Cavaliers kept the Rockets on top to stay.

The Cavaliers hit only 27-of-80 shots from the field on the way to their lowest one-game point total of the season.

Reserve Von Wafer scored 19 points for Houston while Ron Artest added 15 for the Rockets.

In the night's other match, Los Angeles Lakers widened their already gaping advantage in the Pacific Division with a 132-106 pounding of the Phoenix Suns.

Lamar Odom had a game-high 23 points and nine rebounds while Kobe Bryant grabbed 22 and eight assists as the league-leading Lakers (48-10) stretched their command in the Pacific to 15 ½ games over the Suns.