The Rockets have almost the same record and are almost in the exact same place in the standing as they heading into the All-Star break last season. They beat the Kings then on a last-second three-pointer and beat the Kings this season on a third-quarter blitz.
Yet, everything feels different. Instead of feeling nearly unbeatable, as they did then in the early stages of a winning streak that grew to 22 games, they look at the days leading up to this break as a warning of how much better they must be when they return.
"I'm going to the break unhappy," Rafer Alston said. "I think we're a 40-plus win team. I think at this point, we should have 40 wins or better. It hurts to be where we're at in the standings. One minute we're showing flashes of a team that could contend. The next we're showing flashes of a team that's just trying to sneak in the playoffs."
The Rockets could be close to a 40-win team just by eliminating the seven losses to last-place teams. They limped to the break with recent losses to the Grizzlies and the severely limited Bucks, wasting any progress they had made and particularly falling apart on the defensive end they once had mastered.
"Now we're getting to the All-Star break," Yao Ming said. "I think we need to think about what kind of game of game we want to play. Do we want to play like (we did in) Milwaukee, or do we want to play like (Wednesday night)? We all know the answer to that."
Instead of looking forward to the rest, the Rockets viewed the break as a reminder that time is running out. They don't have to play catch-up just to make the playoffs, but the schedule will soon get tougher again and they knew they were not playing well enough.
"We needed a game to get it going more than to have a good break," Luis Scola said. "We need to start winning games to start playing (well). I think we still have time to turn this thing around. We have to do it now."
ROCKETS 94, KINGS 82: The Rockets spent a few minutes blowing out the Kings and seemed to enjoy it. Rafer Alston was throwing no look passes on his way to a season-high 13 assists. Yao Ming was spearing one-handed rebounds on his way to 18. The Rockets led by as much as 24. But like so much of the season up to the break, the win did not come nearly that easily. The Kings trimmed the lead to as little as nine before a Brent Barry three-pointer with 52 seconds left ended any lingering doubt. The Rockets held the Kings to fewer points in the second quarter (10) than any team has had against them this season and they scored more points in the third quarter than they had in any game. But the 12-point win did not quite provide the sort of rout that seemed to be coming their way.
