Yao Ming scored 27 points and gathered 12 rebounds to help Houston down the ice-cold Philadelphia 76ers, 87-81, at the Wachovia Center Monday in Philadelphia.

Rafer Alston donated 19 points and eight assists while Tracy McGrady managed 13 points on 5-of-19 shooting for the Rockets, who have won four in a row.

Allen Iverson struggled from the field -- as did most of his teammates -- but sank 20 of his whopping 24 free throw attempts to finish with 32 points. Chris Webber added 18 points and collected 15 rebounds for Philadelphia, which went more than 15 minutes without a field goal in the second half and shot just 33.3 percent from the field on the night. The Sixers, who committed 24 turnovers, have now dropped three of their last four.

The Sixers sprinted out to a 27-20 first-quarter lead, but went cold in the second stanza, posting just nine points to fall behind 44-36 by intermission.

Alston led all scorers at the break with 14 points, while Iverson paced Philadelphia with 11 on just 3-of-11 shooting.

Philadelphia got temporarily back on track in the third quarter, and after a pair of Andre Iguodala free throws in the closing seconds, trimmed its deficit to 66-63.

The Sixers would go into a lengthy scoring drought, however, missing 19 straight field goal attempts over a span that started with 4:41 in the third quarter and didn't end until Iverson hit a driving layup with only 1:05 to play in the game. Iverson ended the game 6-of-22 from the field.

Houston, by that time, had already established command.

"I think after a while, after we start missing the easy shots, I think we start pressing a little bit and trying to make up for the easy shots that we missed and we just continued to miss," said Sixers head coach Maurice Cheeks. "At one point I remember looking at the clock when we had 33 points and I don't remember the next time we scored. Then, the same thing happened in the third quarter when we just could not make a shot."

The Rockets started the fourth quarter on an 11-4 run and went up 77-67 on an Alston three-pointer with 5:07 left on the clock. They would not be seriously threatened for the rest of the game.

(Agencies via Xinhua News Agency February 7, 2006)