Rockets coach Rick Adelman called his team "special" after they forced a seventh game against the Lakers on Thursday night.

Houston has played half of the semifinal series without All-Star center Yao Ming.

"This team is a special team, special guys," Adelman said. "I knew they were going to play hard. We were going to defend better. This team, the way they listened and the way they went about the game plan and the way they executed, they've grown. And they just keep growing. This team has so much heart. And they don't care what people think. When Yao went down, they haven't blinked an eye. We're just playing to see how far we can take it."

Houston forced a Game 7 against Los Angeles with a 95-80 victory at the Toyota Center, their second win since Yao went down with a foot injury.

"The last two days, all I heard was we weren't going back to L.A.," Adelman said. "I just can't give our guys enough credit. After the game the other night, I knew we were going to come out ... and play with intensity and lay it all out there."