"That was probably who I would have started to start the whole thing," Adelman said. "If we get Ron back when we get back from this trip, we'll see how that goes. I think that's the best combination. Those three guys can really alternate minutes pretty easily.

"(Artest) saw the situation we had and he just wants to fit in. He's going to get his minutes. The hardest decision I'm going to have probably is who is going to finish games. I don't have an answer for that. (It will be based on) what I see on the floor."

--As unusual as it might be for a basketball player to be out with a slightly torn plantaris muscle, particularly considering only 40 percent of people even have one, this is not the first time it has benched Brent Barry.

He tore the left one last season, and he has missed seven games with a slight tear in the right this season. But given his unusual wealth of experience, he knew to move cautiously.

"Well, it's no fun to be hurt, no matter what injury it is," Barry said. "I just know the process it was last year to get back the first time, and then to tear the calf. That's something I want to avoid at all costs.

"From the information I got last year and from talking to Keith (Jones, the Rockets' trainer), it is a very, very common injury, mostly for tennis players. To do one, then both legs happens quite a bit. To have it happen in one calendar year, to both legs, I guess there's something to be said for symmetry. I'll be balanced out."

QUOTE TO NOTE: "I think it's us, it was all us. We took some bad shots and there was no sharpness. ... I just think, it was us, just very poor decisions. I don't know if we thought we were going to just turn it on, but all it did was give them energy. We played right into their hands. It was unfortunate." -- Coach Rick Adelman, on the loss to the Clippers.