They were good friends and better teammates, and in those days they thought they might also play together in San Antonio. But then came the trade. Outside of a few moments last season, they were the only ones with regrets.

But now?

After Sunday?

Ginobili and Scola had dinner Saturday night at a San Antonio restaurant, and they didn't talk about what could have been. They'd been over that ground too many times.

So had the media and fan message boards, especially after a game early last season. Then Scola stuck 20 points on the Spurs, and Gregg Popovich reacted accordingly.

"It kills me to have him on that team," Popovich said. "Enough to make you spit."

The Spurs had sacrificed talent for money, with a rival benefiting. The trade would have festered within the Spurs organization last season, especially when the Rockets put together a 22-game winning streak, except for what followed.

Then, led by Tracy McGrady, the Rockets again wobbled out of the first round. The Spurs went to the Western Conference finals, and their problem then wasn't the Argentine who had been traded; it was the one who was limping against the Lakers.

Not much changed this year, as the Spurs survived with a patched-up lineup and the Rockets endured everything from a gunshot wound to a midseason switch of point guards. But then came Sunday, when the Rockets took away first place from the Spurs.

Now, what the Rockets took away a year and a half ago means more. Scola gives the Rockets the toughness they didn't have before, and he complements Yao Ming, and he slipped free Sunday for the game-winner.

Afterward the media circled Scola, and Brent Barry smiled nearby and motioned toward his latest Argentine teammate.

"Think they could use this guy back here?" Barry asked.

Scola reminds Barry of a former teammate. Barry has called him a taller Manu.

But Barry goes further than that. He doesn't think there's been a better power forward since the All-Star break.

The Spurs' trio can't argue after Sunday. Tim Duncan, Matt Bonner and Drew Gooden combined for six fewer rebounds than Scola had.

To go with his 17 rebounds, Scola added 19 points. Then there's what happened with 11 seconds left, when Scola went to the basket, took a Yao pass and won the game.

Scola shrugged afterward. "I just saw ball coming toward me," he said.

He wasn't perfect Sunday. After Tony Parker missed inside in the closing seconds, Scola grabbed the rebound and was immediately fouled. With only 0.3 on the clock, Scola said he had the following strategy: "Make the first one and miss the second one."

He instead missed the first, then line-drived in the second.

"Apparently," he said, "I'm not very good at it."

The Rockets will live with that. Scola is a smart, rugged player in his prime, and he has a good midrange jumper. His salary is a bargain, and, better yet, he's healthy.

As both the Rockets and Spurs struggle with injuries, Scola has yet to miss a game in his NBA career.

Maybe all of that went through Popovich's head as he slammed the scorers' table Sunday and screamed at Duncan and refs alike. Popovich sure looked spitting mad again.

Still, it's what comes next that should worry Popovich and the Spurs. With McGrady gone, the Rockets have gone 16-4. They are still learning how to win, with a different point-guard rotation, and Sunday suggests they took a big step.

So if they bump the Spurs into the 4-5 playoff seeding, and if the Rockets advance, then the trade will change a few things.

There will be new bite marks, and they will be on the Spurs.

bharvey@express-news.net