LOS ANGELES — Kobe Bryant drove on Yao Ming in the key, the two collided knee-to-knee and the big Houston Rockets center fell to the court, grabbing his right knee and grimacing in pain.

It sure didn't look good when Yao limped off the court and disappeared into the tunnel.

A few minutes later he was back, waiting at the scorer's table to return to the physical game. Although the Rockets absorbed some hits and shed the most blood, they outmuscled the Los Angeles Lakers, 100-92, in Game 1 of the Western Conference semifinals last night.

Yao had 28 points and 10 rebounds, Ron Artest added 21 points and Aaron Brooks had 19 for the Rockets, who are in the second round for the first time since 1997.

Yao downplayed the injury and quick recovery, but his team didn't.

"I don't know what our trainer did to Yao," coach Rick Adelman said. "It was like Rocky coming back out there. We really needed him on the court."

Artest said he was proud of Yao.

"He didn't even make it to the training room," Artest said. "Time was of an essence. Every second, it was killing him not to be on the bench or on the floor. He came right out. I was so proud of him. He showed so much courage and knew that we needed him."

After Bryant and Yao collided, Los Angeles' Pau Gasol picked up the ball for a slam dunk that pulled the Lakers to 85-79 with 4:54 left.

Yao had eight points after coming back; a jumper and six free throws. He made all 10 of his free throws.

Yao said he got hit pretty hard and just needed to walk it off.

"My knee feels fine, thanks for asking," he said. "There's no need to worry about it. I just need to put ice on it."

Bryant scored 32 points, doing his best to keep the Lakers in the game despite missing practice Sunday with a sore throat.

"I'm fine," Bryant said. "My energy felt fine, I was OK."

Game 2 is tomorrow night in Los Angeles.

Houston's Shane Battier needed four stitches to close a gash over his left eye in the closing seconds of the first quarter. Battier had blood streaming down his face after getting hit when Los Angeles' Sasha Vujacic swatted a loose ball out to Bryant. The force of the impact knocked Battier to the ground.

Battier returned late in the second quarter.

Earlier in the quarter, Gasol had trainers work on a cut over his left eye, and Gasol returned to the game, finishing with 14 points and 13 rebounds.

MAGIC 95, CELTICS 90

BOSTON — The Orlando Magic avoided an epic collapse when the clock ran out on the Boston Celtics' comeback bid.

There would be no overtime this time.

Just another hole the defending NBA champions will try to escape.

Dwight Howard returned from his one-game suspension to get 16 points and 22 rebounds and Orlando, which led by as many as 28 points in the second half, held off the late-charging Celtics in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference semifinals.

"The last 16 minutes was a debacle," Magic coach Stan Van Gundy said. "We were sort of trying to run out the clock, and you can't do that in games like this. Especially in the playoffs, teams are going to keep fighting and keep coming back."

Game 2 is tomorrow night in Boston.

Orlando led 65-37 early in the third quarter, but Boston trailed by four points when Ray Allen's 3-pointer rimmed out with 43 seconds left. J.J. Redick made two free throws with 14 seconds left before Paul Pierce's high 3-pointer made it a three-point game with 6.6 seconds to play.

But Redick made two more free throws to ice it.

Pierce scored 23 points, and Rajon Rondo had 14 points, 10 rebounds and eight assists.

Boston had just one day off since eliminating Chicago in a best-of-seven first-round series. The teams played a record four overtime games and seven overtime periods in all.