Rudy Gay scored nine of his 14 points in the fourth quarter and the Memphis Grizzlies rallied from 12-point second-half deficit to beat the Houston Rockets 75-69 Tuesday night in the pre-season opener for both teams.

Houston scored 20 points on 7-of-37 shooting in the second half as reserves played almost the entire game.

Centre Yao Ming didn't suit up for the Rockets after having his left big toenail removed Monday, and starter Juwan Howard dressed but didn't play as coach Jeff Van Gundy wanted to look at his young forwards.

Tracy McGrady led Houston with 17 points, all in the first half.

Memphis took its first lead of the game at 63-62 on Hakim Warrick's 15-footer with 7:31 to play. Warrick had 10 of his 12 points the second half.

Mike Miller had 14 points for Memphis, 12 the first half.

Houston began a ragged third quarter by missing seven of eight shots and committing five turnovers. That helped Memphis make an 11-0 run to close the margin to 51-48 with 6:19 left in the period.

Warrick had six points in the quarter as Memphis closed it to 58-56.

Memphis started the game by missing its first seven shots and committing seven straight turnovers. Houston grabbed a 12-0 lead and was ahead 18-4 when Miller hit the Grizzlies' first field goal, a 3-pointer with 3:36 to play in the first quarter.

Warrick hit their only other field goal in the period on a short turnaround and Memphis managed to reach double figures only because of four free throws by Dahntay Jones.

Memphis finished the first quarter shooting 16.7 per cent (2-of-12) and trailed 26-11.

McGrady scored five of Houston's first 10 points in the second quarter to expand the lead to its widest margin, 36-16. McGrady had 12 points in the quarter as the Rockets led 49-37 at halftime.