HOUSTON (AP) – Tracy McGrady was not going to suffer through another first-round meltdown without a fight.

He refused to be denied in Game 6, and now he’ll have one more chance to advance in the playoffs for the first time in his career.

Playing with the desperation of a man on the brink of elimination, McGrady had 37 points, eight rebounds and seven assists to help the Houston Rockets avoid elimination with a 101-83 victory over Dallas on Thursday night.

The first-round series is now tied 3-3, with Game 7 in Dallas on Saturday. The winner will face top-seeded Phoenix in the Western Conference semifinals. Mike James came off the bench for 22 points and Jon Barry scored 12 of his 14 points in the fourth quarter for the Rockets, who have been bounced in the opening round in their last three playoff appearances. Houston last won a series in 1997, when the lineup featured Hakeem Olajuwon, Clyde Drexler and Charles Barkley.

Jerry Stackhouse led Dallas with 21 points, and Dirk Nowitzki scored 19 on only 5-of-22 shooting as he continued his series-long struggles against McGrady’s defense.

Rockets fans who were disappointed by blown fourth-quarter leads in the last two home games, including a 20-0 run by Dallas in Game 3, were treated to an improbably dominant finish in this one.

McGrady scored eight straight points, including two 3s, during a 19-0 spurt that turned a close game into a rout. Dallas could not stop McGrady with double teams, rough play or simply allowing him to fire away from outside.

McGrady, who has never advanced past the first round in his eight-year career, came through in the clutch to avoid watching his team blow a two-game lead for the second straight time. It also happened when he played for Orlando against Detroit in 2003.

Back then, he never had this kind of help: an All-Star big man in Yao Ming, a bench teeming with driven veterans, and a coach who once led an eighth-seeded team to the NBA Finals.

AP-ES-05-06-05 0033EDT