Padgett scored all of his points and grabbed five rebounds during the spurt and Kirk Snyder finished it with a three-point play that gave the Rockets a 37-30 lead.

After hitting six of their first eight shots, the Bulls missed 17 of their next 23.

Yao had nine rebounds in the opening half and banked in a turnaround just before the halftime buzzer to put the Rockets up 50-39.

Houston started the second half with a 12-2 run, capped by McGrady's banked-in 3-pointer. McGrady shrugged his shoulders and high-fived team owner Les Alexander as he trotted down the court.

But the lead wasn't secure.

On Tuesday, Houston missed 25 of its last 27 shots to fuel San Antonio's rally. And about the same time the Rockets had collapsed against the Spurs, it started happening again.

Gordon's pull-up jumper with 3:50 left in the third quarter cut Houston's lead to 74-55 ¡ª the exact score when San Antonio started its comeback two nights ago.

Houston missed its last five shots of the quarter and Gordon scored 10 points in three minutes to help Chicago trim the deficit to 78-69 heading to the fourth.

The Bulls got within seven before Head swished a 3-pointer with 8:04 left for an 84-74 lead.

The Rockets led 90-79 when Gordon hit a jumper from just inside the 3-point line to start the Bulls' last-ditch rally with 3:29 to go.

"We just were a little bit too late," Gordon said. "I just wish we'd done that at the beginning of the game."

Notes:@ Bulls center Ben Wallace strained his right biceps in the first quarter and went to the locker room. He returned early in the second quarter with black tape wrapped around the injury. ... Bulls G/F Adrian Griffin sat out for the second straight game with a right calf strain. ... The Rockets improved to 33-3 under coach Jeff Van Gundy when they reach 100 points.

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