With Tracy McGrady declaring himself out for the remainder of the season and Rafer Alston traded to elevate Aaron Brooks to a starting job, the Rockets have settled on a rotation and a style, hoping they can now build on a foundation that will not have to change.

"It's a good thing that we know -- this is who we have, this is who we are," Luis Scola said. "Now, everybody can take a role, whatever it is, and it's a good thing. I wish we could have everybody healthy. But this is who we have now, and we have to take it."

Since McGrady went out, the Rockets have won four straight, three with routs and one win against the Dallas Mavericks.

The schedule gets tougher, with the Trail Blazers in town Tuesday followed by the Clippers before the Rockets head out on the road, where they have a three-game losing streak. But they believe they have made progress, without having to step back and start over.

"We're going to find ways to play better as a team with the ways we're going to play," Rockets coach Rick Adelman said. "That wasn't the case because of the in-and-out of people and never knowing what is going on. These guys really believe there is no reason we can't win. We just have to play as a team on both ends."

ROCKETS 99, BOBCATS 78: These were the sort of games that had tormented the Rockets. Against a struggling team -- with an odd 4 p.m. start time -- after a big win. The Rockets have often tempted fate, playing well in stretches and easing off in others, and losing many similar games. Four games after one of those losses, to the Milwaukee Bucks, the Rockets started quickly and with the exception of a brief second-quarter slide, never looked back. They never trailed. And when they reached the fourth-quarter with a 17-point lead, instead of letting another opponent back in the game, they pushed the lead to 25 to cruise to an easy win.