Golden State (24-29) at Houston (23-31)

With Tracy McGrady seemingly over his personal problems and Yao Ming back from injury, the Houston Rockets are rolling.

The Rockets will try for their ninth win in 11 games as they host the Golden State Warriors.

McGrady averaged just 15 points in his last three game before the All-Star break, and then said that he had been dealing with some unspecified personal issues. However, he scored 36 points in the All-Star game and followed that up with a 26-point performance in Wednesday’s 106-102 win over the Los Angeles Clippers.

McGrady, who leads the team with 25.2 points per game, still wouldn’t say what had been bothering him, but insisted that the problems were behind him.

“That’s over with,” he said. “It’s time to move on. We’re not even mentioning that. I’m not going to talk about it.”

Yao had 29 points and 15 rebounds in his best game since missing 21 after toe surgery. He had not scored more than 27 points or grabbed more than 13 rebounds in his 10 previous games since coming back.

The Rockets, who play five of their next six at home, are 17-8 with both Yao and McGrady in their lineup.

“Yao has been playing out of his mind lately,” McGrady said. “Since the guy’s been back, he’s been extremely aggressive. He’s playing with a great deal of confidence.”

The Warriors have lost four of six, including Tuesday’s 102-77 loss to the Sacramento Kings. Mickael Pietrus scored 16 points for the Warriors, and Jason Richardson added 15 for Golden State, which fell to last place in the Pacific Division.

The Warriors shot a season-low 32 percent and posted their lowest point total of the season. Richardson, who leads the team with 22.6 points per game, was 5-for-15 in the first half and played only 11 minutes the rest of the game.

“At practice yesterday we could barely get 94 feet we were so tired,” coach Mike Montgomery said. “We just couldn’t run and it carried over to today. The break really took its toll on us and Jason (Richardson) is a little under the weather. Troy is coming back from about 2 1/2 weeks of not being able to do anything.”

Troy Murphy had five points and five rebounds in his first game back after missing four with an ankle sprain. Andris Biedrins returned after missing two games while recovering from a car accident and had 12 points and a team-high eight rebounds.

Point guard Baron Davis missed his third straight game with a sprained right ankle and is listed as doubtful against the Rockets.