SEATTLE (Ticker) -- Rashard Lewis shook off a personal tragedy to help the Seattle SuperSonics claim a much-needed victory.
Lewis, who missed one game following the death of his brother, scored 27 points and grabbed eight rebounds as the SuperSonics held off the Houston Rockets, 95-88.
"You never know how a guy will come back after death or injury or grief," Seattle coach Nate McMillan said. "Sometimes getting out and playing takes your mind off of it, and tonight he played really well."
"The best situation for me is to be out on the court and be around my teammates," Lewis said. "I was worried about the team because we had been struggling a lot lately, losing games. It was kind of hard for me to leave and come back, but it's something I had to do."
Rookie reserve Luke Ridnour contributed eight of his 11 points in the fourth quarter, including a go-ahead 3-pointer, as Seattle won for the second time in six games. The SuperSonics were in danger of falling to .500 for the first time this season.
Lewis, Ridnour and Vladimir Radmanovic each made three 3-pointers for Seattle, which was 11-of-29 from the arc and limited Houston to 3-of-16.
Steve Francis scored 28 points and Yao Ming added 19 for the Rockets, who have lost a season-high three straight games. Houston made just 8-of-15 free throws in the fourth quarter.
"Free-throw shooting and a couple of poor defensive performances that led to threes (were the difference)," Rockets coach Jeff Van Gundy said. "I thought they were very physical in the paint against Yao. I thought Ridnour did a good job running pick-and-rolls."
"It was like being in a war," Yao said through an interpreter. "They kept throwing people at me - (Jerome) James, (Calvin) Booth and (Vladimir) Potapenko - and I was worn out. I was beaten up. They wanted to wear me down and they definitely did."
Seattle trailed, 71-70, entering the final period before Ridnour put the SuperSonics ahead for good with a 3-pointer 24 seconds into the quarter.
Both teams shot just under 40 percent, with Houston making just 29-of-73 attempts and Seattle 31-of-78.
"You hate to keep saying that there were shots missing, but we missed a lot of shots down the stretch, a lot of layups," Francis said. "I thought we were intense, but they somehow got some loose balls and some easy buckets that really hurt us."
