Back in February, when the Rockets had an unusually light schedule and thought they would build momentum and an impressive record, they knew this stretch was coming.
They did not exactly roll through the month the way they expected, but they did turn things around with a six-game home winning streak to sweep the month's home schedule for a second-consecutive season. Now comes the tough part. Beginning with Saturday's loss at Chicago, the Rockets play 10 games in 15 days. After splitting the road trip, coming back from the collapse in Chicago to beat the Timberwolves, they return home to face the Raptors (who handed them one of their worst losses of the season) then head out to Salt Lake City to face Utah, their playoff nemesis, the next night.
"We have a long ways to go," Shane Battier said. "We have 10 games in 15 days. That's absolutely brutal. I don't think I've played in a stretch that brutal in my eight years. We feel good, though. We feel refreshed after the All-Star break. We look at it as a great challenge we're excited to meet."
The Rockets home court revival moved them to fourth in the Western Conference. After Sunday's win, they are just one game out of third, but just a game-and-a-half removed from eight.
"I say it all the time to the team," Adelman said. "You put yourself in position during the course of the season. Now we've put ourselves in position that we've moved toward the top in the West. Now you've got to take advantage of it. You can't drop back. We'll see if that's what we can do."
ROCKETS 105, TIMBERWOLVES 94: As if determined to try it again after suffering the greatest collapse in franchise history, the Rockets could not have followed the form of the night before more closely if they were reading from a script.
In Chicago, they scored easily but led by just three at halftime. At Minnesota, they scored easily, but led by just one. In Chicago, they took a 17-point lead after three quarters. In Minneapolis, they led by 17 in the third quarter and by 14 heading into the fourth quarter. Finally, and most tauntingly, they led by 17 with six minutes left a night after they blew a 17-point lead in the final six minutes.
This time, however, the Rockets never stumbled. The Timberwolves did not close to fewer than 14 points until the last minute as the Rockets cruised to the sort of win that seemed certain but that had escaped them less than 24 hours earlier.
Aaron Brooks came back from a very poor performance with 22 points and 10 assists. Ron Artest added 23 points. And the Rockets made 53.3 percent of their shots to easily close out the win to snap a four-game road losing streak.
