Play-offs: Rockets roll

Yao Ming had 21 points and 12 rebounds for the Rockets, who took a three-games-to-one lead in the best-of-seven series.

With the win the Rockets snapped a six-game losing streak in game fours - a skid that coincides with their 0-6 record in first-round series since 1998.

Luis Scola scored 17 points and Shane Battier added 14 points and six assists for the Rockets, his effort including two key 3-pointers in the fourth quarter.

The Rockets will try to close out the series in hostile territory as they travel to Portland for game five on Tuesday.

"We've got two teams here that are just dead even," Houston coach Rick Adelman said. "We got fortunate twice at our place, got two wins we needed. Now we've got to go to Portland and see if we can't play a solid game."

Brandon Roy scored 31 points and went 13-for-13 from the free-throw line for the Blazers, who led 70-64 going into the fourth quarter but couldn't put the game away and suffered their 12th defeat in their last 13 games in Houston.

"They just wanted it a little bit more than we did down the stretch," Roy said.

The Rockets were up 87-85 when Houston's Ron Artest missed from the baseline with 27 seconds left and Roy rebounded.

After a timeout, Roy drove to the basket but rammed into Chuck Hayes and was called for an offensive foul.

Aaron Brooks made one free throw with 10 seconds to play but missed the second. Portland's Travis Outlaw then missed a 3-pointer, Brooks sank another free throw to make it 89-85, and Portland's Rudy Fernandez responded with a 3-pointer with 2.3 seconds left that cut the gap to 89-88.

Kyle Lowry had a chance to give Houston a bigger cushion, but missed two free throws with 1.2 seconds to play.

"That's our season, we don't ever make anything easy," Adelman said.

LaMarcus Aldridge scored 19 points and Outlaw had 14 for the Blazers.

Yao went 7-for-14 from the field, his best game since he scored 24 in Houston's game one victory.

LeBron James poured in 36 points as the Cleveland Cavaliers pounded the Detroit Pistons 99-78 to complete a sweep of their Eastern conference quarter-final.

Serenaded by chants of "MVP, MVP", a fired up James underlined his case for league honours with another tour de force performance, adding 13 rebounds and eight assists as the Cavaliers became the first team through to the second round of the NBA play-offs.

After six consecutive trips to the Eastern conference finals, the Pistons' play-off journey this season was an abbreviated one.

They were overwhelmed by the Cavaliers, who won the four games by an average of 15.5 points to claim just their second ever sweep of a best-of-seven series.

Derrick Rose scored 23 points while Ben Gordon and John Salmons sank clutch late baskets to spark Chicago past Boston 121-118 in double over-time to level their NBA play-off series.

Gordon had 22 points and Salmons added 20, including nine-for-nine from the free throw line, as the Bulls matched the defending NBA champions at two triumphs each in their best-of-seven Eastern Conference first-round play-off series.

Paul Pierce led the Celtics with 29 points while Ray Allen, who sank a dramatic 3-pointer late in regulation to force the first over-time, added 28 while Rajon Rondo contributed 25 points, 11 rebounds and 11 assists.

For the third time in four games, the game went down to the final possession and this time the Bulls pulled out a thriller on their home-court.

Gordon sank a dramatic three-pointer with 4.5 seconds remaining in the first overtime to pull the Bulls level at 110-110. When Rondo missed a pull-up jumper at the buzzer, the game went into a second extra five-minute period.

Rose scored one basket and assisted Salmons on another to give Chicago a 114-110 lead. Glen Davis answered for Boston but Joakim Noah followed with a slam dunk and a free throw to boost the Bulls back on top 117-112.

Pierce responded with a 3-point play to trim Chicago's edge to 117-115 with 27.3 seconds remaining, but Salmons added two free throws to restore the Bulls' four-point bulge.

Pierce followed by sinking a tension-packed three-pointer to lift the Celtics within 119-118 with 19.2 seconds to play.

But Salmons, who went 9-for-9 from the free throw line, added his last two to give Chicago the final margin then deflected an attempted game-tying 3-pointer from Pierce in the dying seconds.

Back-to-back baskets by Pierce and Allen gave Boston a 105-100 lead with 2:00 to play in the first overtime but Chicago rallied with six of the next eight points, three from Kirk Hinrich, to stay within reach.

Pierce and Gordon each went one-of-two from the line before Allen drained two from the line, leaving Boston ahead 110-107 and setting the stage for Gordon's equalizer, matching Allen's clutch hoop at the end of regulation.

Allen sank a three-pointer with 9.8 seconds remaining to pull Boston level at 96-96 and send the game into overtime after Rose missed baseline lob in the dying seconds of regulation time.

Gordon's driving bank-shot basket gave Chicago a 95-93 lead with 31 seconds remaining in regulation.

Davis missed a reverse layup and Tyrus Thomas, who grabbed the rebound, was fouled and made a free throw for a 96-93 lead with 16.6 seconds to play, setting the stage for Allen's equalizer.

The Celtics ended the third quarter on a 12-0 run, Pierce having scored 11 points in the period to spark the run to a 70-65 edge entering the fourth.

Rose, who scored 11 points in the fourth quarter, hit a jumper with 2:00 remaining to give the Bulls a 91-90 lead. Allen equalised with a free throw and the teams traded free throws to the final seconds.

The Orlando Magic pulled even with the Philadelphia 76ers with a 84-81 road win in Game Four of their Eastern Conference battle.

Hedo Turkoglu's three-pointer with 0.9 seconds to play was the decider for Orlando. Team mate Dwight Howard had 18 points and 18 rebounds to deadlock the series 2-2.

Game Five is at Orlando on Tuesday.