Rockets Will Face Tough Road To Credibility After Agonizing Home Loss

Maybe the Rockets finally reaped the bad karma from all of the times they tried to give away Monday's 97-95 win in Denver.

They gift-wrapped Wednesday night's marquee home date against the Los Angeles Lakers. This loss was embarrassing because it was a game that the Rockets needed to win, and with an 11-point half time lead secured with a slew of easy baskets, it's one they should have finished.

Successful Playoff teams do not give away such commanding advantages on their home floors. A contest that should have been a rout in the Rockets favor became an agonizing 102-96 loss.

A win tonight would not have meant much in this matchup's grand scheme, but it would have given the Rockets confidence that they could indeed beat the league-leading Lakers. Such victories are stepping stones; they are opportunities on which to build.

Though the Rockets did flounder and fold in heartbreaking fashion, this loss does not mean the sky will fall or that Toyota Center will explode tomorrow.

It offers a different opportunity. Instead of building on a win, now the Rockets must respond to a crushing defeat. They must get up, put the gloves back on and figure out how to win most of their remaining 17 bouts.

Some fans will view the team's slate of remaining road games, the most of any of the nine West Playoff hopefuls, as unfair or perhaps a conspiracy on the part of the league's schedulers.

But if the Rockets want to win their first Playoff series since 1997, they will view it as a blessing.

Booker T. Washington once said, "Success is to be measured not so much by the position that one has reached in life as by the obstacles which he has overcome."

The Rockets found a way to complete a historic 22-game win streak last year after Yao Ming announced a season-ending injury. This year's necessary feat will be to find a way to win away from the Toyota Center despite a tepid 15-17 road record.

Perhaps a popular George Strait song offers a better description of what the Rockets must do in this final month or so of the season:

"Practice makes perfect, gonna get it right. Gonna get it right...one night at a time."

The Rockets have nine nights to get it right.

• Friday, March 13: @ Charlotte
• Monday, March 16: @ New Orleans
• Sunday, March 22: @ San Antonio
• Tuesday, March 24: @ Utah
• Wednesday, April 1: @ Phoenix
• Friday, April 3: @ L.A. Lakers
• Thursday, April 9: @ Sacramento
• Friday, April 10: @ Golden State
• Wednesday, April 15: @ Dallas

If they harbored some delusion that winning at home would be enough, Wednesday's loss set them straight.

With just seven losses on their court, the Rockets know they can win there.

The hardest part awaits them: transferral of those winning ways at home to the road.

Here's a look at what the Rockets did well and what failed them in Wednesday's game.

Please Sir, May I Have Some More?:

• The Rockets nearly doubled up the Lakers in the paint in the first half, at one point outscoring them 36-20.
• Ron Artest's four first-half steals helped the Rockets score some needed transition buckets. The team manufactured eight points on the break alone in the second quarter.
• Yao Ming and Luis Scola each made seven-of-nine shots. Translation: The only way the Lakers could stop either big guy was to keep them from getting the ball. The Lakers' double teams left shooters wide open from behind the arc.
• Aaron Brooks continued to show his guts, draining a stepback three with Derek Fisher in face. He finished the four-point play opportunity to cut the deficit to 86-84.
• Von Wafer was the Rockets go-to scorer early and late in the fourth quarter. He made four shots in the period: a three-pointer to tie the score at 76 and three fading jumpshots. He was 9-of-16 overall.
• Kyle Lowry registered five assists, four of them in the blistering first half. He  created several of those second quarter run-outs.
• Carl Landry camped out near the basket and put forth a 10-point, eight-rebound effort. He slammed it twice after gorgeous feeds from Lowry and Artest, respectively. He also tip-dunked a missed Battier trey.

Don't Ever Do That Again:

• After getting slaughtered in the paint in the first half, the Lakers scored 24 points inside in the second 24 minutes to just 12 from the Rockets.
• The Rockets chucked up 28 three-pointers and made five of them. Battier missed all four of his attempts, Artest missed all eight of his, Lowry clanged both tries, and even Wafer made only 2-of-6. The Rockets kept shooting them, even though it was obvious none of them were going in.
• The Lakers made sure that Scola and Yao could not get the ball in the second half. The way Phil Jackson opted to defend both players for much of the game was an admission that nobody on his team could stop them one-on-one. But instead of moving the ball and making them pay, the Rockets stood around and had a "jumpshot festival."
• When Yao did catch the ball off doubles, he was too indecisive and panic-prone. As a result, he coughed up the ball four times.
• Scola passed up too many open rhythm jumpshots. A few of those pass-offs led to 24-second violations. When he did finally take one in the fourth quarter, he missed badly because he had been passing up much better looks.
• Artest paid tribute to Steve Francis and Tracy McGrady with a dribbling clinic. For much of the night, he ran a different offense than the other four teammates on the floor with him. He shot a miserable 4-of-16 from the field and also recorded a team-high six turnovers.
• The Rockets turned it over a season-high 23 times.
• With the score tied midway through the fourth quarter, Artest committed a stupid foul on Pau Gasol that afforded the Spaniard two freebies and the Lakers a two-point lead. That was his fifth personal of the game. It was almost as bird-brained as Yao's halfcourt grab Monday night that forced him to the bench with six fouls.
• Kobe Bryant scored 37 points on 14-of-23 shooting.
• Pau Gasol drained 9-of-18 attempts, plus two late free throws, to nab his 20 points.
• Lamar Odom, the second leading rebounder in the West since the All-Star break, sat out the game due to a league-imposed suspension. The Rockets did not expose his absence.
• The Rockets allowed the Lakers to score 62 points in the second half while they put up just 45.
• The Rockets botched a chance to blow the game open with a putrid start to the third quarter. They could not do what the Blazers had done two nights earlier. Pathetic.
• Artest tried to steal the ball from Bryant on one fourth-quarter possession, swiping but missing badly. As he fell to the court, Bryant swished a wide open three-pointer.
• The Rockets failed to capitalize on a 2-of-11 three-point shooting night by the usually dead-eye Lakers.
• Most of all, the Rockets let the Lakers out-hustle and out-heart them when it mattered most.

As the Rockets prepare to hit the road for a joust with Larry Brown's much-improved Charlotte Bobcats, here is what they must do:

• Yao must learn to consistently seal off his man so that his teammates have a clear passing lane to get him the ball.
• His teammates must get him the ball when the game is on the line. He will score, draw a foul or kick it out to an open shooter.
• Yao must make quicker decisions on the low block. He must shoot or pass before the help defender can arrive.
• The refs rarely officiate a big man fairly. To compensate, Yao could stand to act a bit more when he throws up a shot against single- or double-coverage. In essence, he is selling the foul his man has already committed. Yao will get a first-hand look at someone who does this exceptionally when Tim Duncan comes to Houston this weekend.
• Artest should take as many or more than 16 attempts per game. But that's not the problem; what he cannot do is force that many shots after dribbling down the clock and failing to spot wide open teammates with great looks. He did what the Lakers wanted him to do. He spaced out and stopped the ball.
• Successful Playoff teams possess killer instinct. If the Rockets hold a double-digit lead from the second quarter on against a championship-caliber team, the players should not assume their opponent will make a run. The Rockets' job is to make sure that run never happens. An 11-point halftime lead at home against the Lakers should translate to a 20-point win.
• The Rockets cannot miss 15 free throws, as they did Monday in Denver, and expect to win.
• Aaron Brooks and Kyle Lowry will be expected to mature far beyond their years. Most outside of Houston question whether these two undersized, inexperienced guards boast the moxie or ability to quarterback the team in the playoffs. Now is their chance to prove to Daryl Morey, once and for all, that his trade of Rafer Alston to the Orlando Magic was genius, not a mistake.
• Most of all, they can never allow a team to out-hustle or out-heart them in a critical contest.

The next two weeks' performances will determine whether the Rockets will earn home-court advantage in the first round. The team's third-place status is tenuous; its effort against the Bobcats and Spurs will set the tone for the rest of the season.

Rick Adelman has preached to his players that they can determine the kind of season they have.

After all, practice makes perfect, one night at a time.

The Rockets close out the season series with the Lakers April 3 at Staples Center.

They should be thankful. They have nine more chances chances, including that one, to get it right.