HOUSTON, Texas: The Houston Rockets finally blasted their way out of the first round of the National Basketball Association playoffs, advancing for the first time in 12 years with a 92-76 victory over Portland.

Houston's win on Thursday gave them a four-games-to-two victory over the Trail Blazers in the best-of-seven Western Conference series, and sent them into a second-round clash with the Los Angeles Lakers.

Ron Artest scored 27 points and Yao Ming added 17 points with 10 rebounds as the Rockets won for the first time in their last seven first-round series.

"It's a big step for me," said Yao, who was drafted No 1 overall by Houston in 2002 and has played on three Rockets teams that lost in the first round.

"Even when the clock was running down, I'm still not believing that it's coming true," he added. "Obviously now that we know that feeling, we've got to keep moving forward."

Aaron Brooks scored 13 points and Shane Batter tied a career playoff-high with nine rebounds for the Rockets.

LaMarcus Aldridge scored 26 points and Brandon Roy added 22 for Portland, who were making their first playoff appearance since 2003.

But the inexperience of the young Blazers team showed as Houston turned the final game into a rout.

"This is a great experience for us," Roy said. "All our guys are happy that we had a great season, but they have a bad taste in their mouth because you felt like we could have played better this series."

Even with Yao taking his regular rest at the start of the second quarter, the Rockets took control with a 13-2 run.

Reserve guard Von Wafer - playing despite an ailing back - drained a three-pointer and grabbed a rebound during the run.

After Roy drove for a layup midway through the second quarter Houston coach Rick Adelman called a timeout and sent Yao back in.

Houston's Chinese star promptly made a hook shot to stretch the lead for Houston, who took a 52-37 lead into halftime.

Portland cut the deficit to 13 points early in the fourth period, but Yao's layup and a three-pointer from Brooks put the Rockets up 20 points - sparking chants of "Beat L-A" from fans already looking forward to the showdown with Kobe Bryant's Lakers.

Yao hugged forward Brian Cook and Artest walked to the Portland bench to shake hands with Portland coach Nate McMillan as the game wound down.

Artest, who came through with his best offensive game of the series, said just advancing wasn't enough.

"The fans were just so happy to get out of the first round and I'm like, 'I'm just not happy to just be out of the first round,'" he said. "That's just not our goal here. That's not LA's goal, that's not Boston's goal, that is not Cleveland's goal. That is not our goal."

AFP

(China Daily 05/02/2009 page12)