It ruined the Shaquille O'Neal-Kobe Bryant pairing in Los Angeles, but Tracy McGrady won't let it derail Houston's title hopes.

With McGrady and Yao Ming, the Rockets resemble the Shaq-Kobe Lakers — one team, two superstars. One player has to be "the man," and O'Neal and Bryant both demanded that role.

McGrady doesn't care.

"I never did," he said. "I had no choice (in Orlando) but to go out and carry the team, because I didn't have Grant Hill. When I came here, I've got a big guy who I can go throw the ball to and he gets 25 shots a night and I could defer to him."

When McGrady joined Orlando from Toronto, it was thought he would be Hill's sidekick, but Hill never stayed healthy.

McGrady turned into one of the league's most explosive scorers while playing for some bad teams, but he's never advanced beyond the first round of the playoffs. He said he believes the way to make it happen is by riding on the back of his 7-foot-6 center, who McGrady says is playing at an "MVP-caliber level."

"I'm all about winning. I'm a very unselfish player," he said. "For me, it's all about getting W's. I've won scoring championships. I don't care about none of that stuff no more. I'm at a point in my career where I just want to win ballgames. So if that's going out averaging 12, 15 points and we're winning ballgames, so be it."...

Lakers owner Jerry Buss, on the rise of the LA Clippers: "I think we figured out they had 18 out of 20 lottery choices. It's not a big surprise that they eventually gained some material, but it does surprise me that they kept it. That's certainly a change in philosophy, probably a welcome one to the fans of Los Angeles."...

Even with his veteran, playoff-tested roster, Gregg Popovich took time during training camp and early in the season to stress the importance of stealing wins on the road.

The team listened. The Spurs have won their first six games away from San Antonio for the first time in franchise history.

They even won at Arco Arena, traditionally one of the toughest arenas for the visitors, last Sunday night despite Brent Barry leaving the building with 12 stitches in his head after the physical contest.

"We focus in as a team on the road knowing that not a whole lot of people are rooting for us except the guys on our bench," Barry said. "It's a bunker mentality."