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The Rockets had resisted the urge to look ahead but now were free to let their minds wander.

They thought of the sort of atmosphere and opponent that will be waiting today and in the postseason. They thought of previous struggles against the San Antonio Spurs , a team so often hardened by triumphing in those circumstances. They thought of the closing minutes, when tight and tough games are decided, and seemed to hope to feel that heat again.

They said relatively little about the chance to move past the Spurs and into first in the Southwest Division with a win today in San Antonio.

Ron Artest said that would be "fun." Fun, he said, is important. The Rockets, however, considered today's game a chance to measure and toughen themselves for the similar, more important games ahead.

"If we're going to make it through the playoffs, we have to play against the tough teams," Rockets guard Aaron Brooks said. "We have a lot of good games on the road.

"Both teams are going to come out and play hard. It's going to be a playoff-type atmosphere. It will be a good test for us, like a playoff game."

Though the Rockets listed many postseason similarities they expect to find waiting at the AT&T Center this afternoon, they were most drawn to a chance to make the corrections from their previous game against the Spurs. Today's game does not come as quickly as in a postseason series, but it has been just eight days since the Spurs took over down the stretch in Toyota Center, much as they did when scoring the final 12 points in their win against the Rockets in San Antonio.

End game matters most

The Rockets blew out the Spurs in their other meeting and played them close in the two losses. But handling those closing moments, when the Spurs execute with the precision of a team that has won championships together, was quickly cited as a next step more important than a chance to move up a notch in the standings.

"The one thing that was a learning process for us in that game is understanding in the fourth quarter what we're going to do or what we need to do," said Brent Barry, a member of the past two San Antonio championship teams. "We didn't handle that well against the Spurs the last time we played them. We didn't get the ball in effectively or get good quality possessions at the end of the game. Obviously, when you start getting ready for post-season Basketball ? you have to be very good down the stretch of any close game. If we have another opportunity on the road to do that, I think it will be great for us to see if we can do better.

"We have a lot of young guys that need an experience of having close games and having them make the right play at the right times. For Aaron and Kyle (Lowry), for Ron (Artest) and Yao (Ming) to understand what each is capable of at the end of the game, and most important, for Coach (Rick) Adelman to see who he can trust at the end of the game with the ball and who is going to get it to him and try to be better at that."

On the other end, the Rockets expect no surprises. The key, they said, is to defend a contender when it is at its best.

"We know what the Spurs are going to do," Shane Battier said. "They're going to high pick-and-roll. They're going to post Duncan. They're going to spread the floor. Can we eliminate the mistakes we had against them, especially in the fourth quarter, against them this time? That's the name of the game come playoff time."

Containing Parker key

When asked the adjustment the Rockets most need to make, Brooks pointed to his position, where Tony Parker ran the San Antonio offense expertly in the fourth quarter.

"I think we need to contain Parker a little bit more," Brooks said. "Not only did he have 28 points, he had nine assists. I want to contain him a little more. If he gets his points, fine, but make sure he is not creating for the other team. That's the point guard's objective."

Pass or fail, today's test is not a final examination. The Rockets go from Sunday's game to face their postseason tormenters, the Utah Jazz, in EnergySolutions Arena on Tuesday.

More than games to test themselves, the Rockets said these are games to prepare them for the similar challenges to come.

"We will have a few more of those," Luis Scola said. "We will have Utah in Utah, New Orleans at home, Dallas in Dallas. Those type of games are playoff-type of games. It's good for us. It's good training. It's a good thing for us."

Today, however, they likely will not have to worry about looking ahead to future games. But once freed to consider a March game for the division lead, they allowed themselves a moment to look back at a strange and difficult road that brought them to this point.

"Well, who'd have thought?" Battier said. "Who'd have thought we'd be here? Lo and behold, we stayed the course and stayed together and set ourselves up for this matchup. We haven't played the Spurs well this year. We're 1-2 in the series. So we need to get this for tiebreaker purposes, for a lot of reasons. It will be a fun game."

Finally, they could look forward to it.

jonathan.feigen@chron.com