"Our mindset has to be that we can control what we can control," Rockets guard Brent Barry said. "We have to start sharpening up some of the things we can get better at as we make progress toward the postseason. We're working toward some other things, some other bigger goals in terms of what our team needs to do."

The biggest thing they wanted to do was to execute late in games, and had spent much of their four days of practice working on that. Then they went six fourth-quarter minutes without scoring, bogging down with too much one-on-one play and too little ball movement. Those have been frequent problems, but this breakdown began with Yao Ming and Luis Scola on the bench with four fouls each. With those two out, that left the Rockets without an interior scorer. They did take several minutes to execute their offense after the starters returned to the floor, but the breakdown began with such an unusual lineup -- with first Dikembe Mutombo and then Chuck Hayes at center -- that it was considered an unusual circumstance that took them off their game.

That loss, however, made their play in the remaining seven games, especially down the stretch, even more important.

SUNS 114, ROCKETS 109: The Rockets had not only kept pace with the NBA's top?scoring, best shooting team, they held a fourth-quarter lead. They had outscored the Suns, 8-1, to start the quarter and had seemed to overcome the offensive barrage brought by Steve Nash and their own lethargic first half.

Then they were hit by something they never saw coming. The Suns defended them so well that for a span of six fourth-quarter minutes, the Rockets went scoreless. They missed eight consecutive shots, rarely getting the sort of looks that built their lead, and were outscored, 15-0. They recovered enough to give themselves a late, longshot chance. But they had slumped badly enough and for long enough that it was too late.