Denver at Memphis (8 p.m. EST). Two of the West's surprise teams this season try to stay in playoff contention.

STARS

Sunday

_ Yao Ming, Rockets, scored a career-high 41 points and grabbed 16 rebounds in Houston's 123-121 triple-overtime win over Atlanta.

_ Kobe Bryant, Lakers, scored 16 of his 40 points in the fourth quarter to lead Los Angeles past Phoenix 104-92.

_ Zydrunas Ilgauskas, Cavaliers, had 31 points and 15 rebounds as Cleveland held off New York 92-86.

_ Rashard Lewis, SuperSonics, scored 28 points, including six 3-pointers, as Seattle beat Boston 108-87.

_ Peja Stojakovic, scored 27 points to help Sacramento defeat Toronto 96-81.

STAYING LATE

Houston's 123-121 triple-overtime victory over Atlanta on Sunday night was the longest in the NBA this season. Four Rockets players were on the court for 50 minutes or more in a game that took 3 hours and 27 minutes. Houston also won the NBA's last three-overtime game, beating visiting Indiana 127-118 on March 13, 2001.

STRONG IN DEFEAT

All-Star guard Paul Pierce scored 34 points for struggling Boston, which lost to Indiana 108-87 on Sunday night for its sixth straight defeat. ... Stephon Marbury shot just 4-for-21 in the first three quarters, but finished with 30 points in New York's 92-86 loss to Cleveland. ... Kevin Garnett led first-place Minnesota with 28 points and 10 rebounds, but second-place San Antonio won 94-92. ... Amare Stoudemire had 25 points and 12 rebounds, and Shawn Marion added 22 points and 13 rebounds as Phoenix lost its eighth straight, 104-92 to the Los Angeles Lakers.

FINED

Orlando guard Tracy McGrady and Washington coach Eddie Jordan both received fines from the NBA on Sunday. McGrady was fined $10,000 for kicking a basketball into the stands twice at the end of the first half of Orlando's 102-98 victory over Denver on Friday night. Jordan, who berated official Leon Wood in the middle of the court after the final whistle of Washington's 96-87 loss to Indiana on Friday, was fined $7,500 for failing to leave the court in a timely manner.

SPEAKING

``To me, it just seems like guys are going out just to get numbers. ... They're not passing. If you look at the little bit of wins that we do have, we have 20-plus assists. Games that we're getting killed on, we have one guy with OK numbers, but he's just shooting. We don't pass the ball. We don't play like a team. It makes me sick.'' _ Washington's Kwame Brown, after the Wizards lost to Milwaukee 113-85. Brown had six points and shot 2-for-4.