Greg Smith scored 17 of his career-high 21 points in the second half Wednesday to help ignite a Houston rally that shot the Rockets to a 107-105 NBA victory over the Los Angeles Lakers.

Smith made 7-of-8 shots from the field and grabbed nine rebounds as the Rockets notched their fifth victory in six games.

Toney Douglas scored 22 points off the bench to help the Rockets overcome a poor shooting night from James Harden - not to mention 39 points from Lakers superstar Kobe Bryant.

Harden finished with 15 points and 10 rebounds, but made just 3-of-19 from the field.

Dwight Howard scored 16 points with 12 rebounds for the Lakers, who led by 13 in the fourth quarter but lost for the third time in their last four games.

As in a 113-103 loss to Orlando on Monday, Howard had his troubles at the free throw line, but Lakers coach Mike D'Antoni said he didn't consider taking Howard out in the fourth quarter as the Rockets were closing in - and repeatedly fouling Howard to send him to the line.

"He's not the reason that our defense breaks down," D'Antoni said. "He's got to work through this. You take him out now. Then what are you going to do, take him out all the time? It's not him that's causing the problem."

Despite the breakdowns - the Lakers had 19 turnovers and surrendered 21 rebounds - D'Antoni insisted the Lakers weren't far from where they need to be to win.

"We're close, we're real close," he said. "But we've got some tightening up to do."

The Lakers were without point guard Steve Nash and power forward Pau Gasol. Nash is still recovering from a broken left leg, while Gasol sat out with tendinitis in his knees that has troubled him all season.

In another game, the Washington Wizards posted just their second win of the NBA season, overcoming a triple-double by Miami's LeBron James to stun the reigning champion Heat 105-101.

Jordan Crawford scored 22 points and Kevin Seraphin scored 16 points with 10 rebounds as the Wizards notched their third straight victory over the Heat a streak dating back to late last season.

They started the season with 12 straight defeats before posting a two-point win over Portland last week.

Wizards coach Randy Wittman was delighted that his players were able to come through against a high-profile opponent, that had the backing of many in the crowd.

"I'm so happy for those guys," he said.

The win took a bit of the sting out of Wittman's pre-game revelation that he doesn't know when the Wizards' top player, 2010 No.1 overall draft pick John Wall, will return.

Wall has yet to take part in a practice this season because of a stress injury to his left knee cap.

AFP - Global Times