The team said the injury was minor and Yao left the game only as a precaution.

``It's not a big problem,'' Yao said. ``If we had practise tomorrow I could do it.''

He had 13 points and four rebounds when he was injured. He left in the second quarter, after scoring 11 points during a 15-4 run that helped Houston build a 49-46 halftime lead.