Rockets guard Aaron Brooks scored a career-high 34 points in the team's 99-87 win over the Lakers on Sunday afternoon.

The Game 4 victory allowed Houston to tie up their semifinal series against Los Angeles, despite the absence of center Yao Ming.

"We will never count ourselves out," Brooks said. "If anybody is ready for us, it would be us. We've been through a lot this year. Mac (Tracy McGrady) being out, Deke (Dikembe Mutombo) being out, Shane (Battier) being out at the beginning of the year. Now we have Yao out. It seems like we keep going. We're used to it."

The Rockets are now 4-2 without Yao this season, a testament to their resiliency.

"I knew we could win, but I knew we would have to play the way we did," Luis Scola said. "I like my team. I like Yao a lot, too, but we have pretty good players. If you ask me, I will choose to play with Yao 100 percent of the time. But since that is not possible, we have different things to use."