Down the stretch, every possession became hand-to-hand combat. Half-court playoff Basketball at its best. Pat Riley's legacy lives.

The Rockets didn't win so much as they survived, getting by the Portland Trail Blazers 86-83 Friday night at Toyota Center in Game 3 of a best-of-seven NBA playoff series.

The Rockets won because Shane Battier made a pair of huge plays down the stretch, nailing a critical 3-pointer and then making a nice pass to Luis Scola.

The Rockets won because they made just enough foul shots in the final 20 seconds and because they got huge contributions from Luis Scola, Carl Landry and a long list of others.

They won with defense, which is the way it's supposed to be in the playoffs. Ron Artest and Battier harassed Brandon Roy into a 6-for-18 shooting night.

They got lucky, too, but that's part of the deal. The Blazers missed open shot after open shot. That's playoff Basketball. Sometimes the rim gets smaller, the palms sweatier.

quot;I think tonight's game is going to be pretty indicative of how the series is going to go forward,quot; Battier said. quot;They're not going to go out quietly, and neither are we.quot;

Timely turnaround

When the Rockets reviewed their Game 2 loss, it was their defense that disappointed them the most. This night, it was defense that led them.

quot;We defended a lot better,quot; Rockets coach Rick Adelman said. quot;If we defend the way we are capable of defending and play as hard as we played, we can win the game as long as guys step up.quot;

Yao Ming got just seven shots as the Blazers again smothered him.

Never mind that. The Rockets moved the ball better and got 19 points from Luis Scola and 16 from Battier.

quot;I'm really proud of our guys,quot; Battier said, quot;because Yao had another tough night with them focusing on taking him away. When that happens, we have to find a way to make extra points. Luis had a great game. Carl had a great game.quot;

They still must figure a way to make the Blazers pay for double-teaming Yao. They did, sort of, in the beginning, as they moved the ball crisply away from the double team and got Battier and Scola open for jumpers.

In the end, though, Yao didn't get enough shots. Some of it was Portland doing a nice job on Yao and some of it was the Rockets missing chances to get the ball inside.

quot;If they want to take that away and we win the game, so be it,quot; Adelman said.

The Rockets will watch the video this afternoon as they prepare for Game 4 on Sunday, and they'll see a dozen things they did wrong.

What they did right was enough.

All together now

They never lost their defensive focus, and they got others involved in the offense.

quot;Offensively, we struggled a little bit,quot; guard Aaron Brooks said. quot;If we keep our intensity on defense and pick up our offense, we'll be all right.quot;

Artest didn't even take a shot until the first half. He passed up some shots, but he may have been sending a message that this night was about defense.

The Rockets probably didn't think they could win a game with Yao and Artest going 5-for-15 and combining for 16 points.

quot;That's crazy,quot; Landry said. quot;Hey, I'd rather them score 16 points and we win the game than for them to combine for 50 points and we lose. It's a great win.quot;

The Rockets can win without 50 points from Yao and Artest, but they can't win if Battier and Scola pass up shots.

Flip side of fronting

One problem with putting a defender in front of Yao is it gives the Blazers one less defender to keep him off the offensive boards.

The Rockets won 14 turnovers. They won because they outscored Portland 19-9 at the foul line. Little things added up.

The Rockets reminded themselves after losing Game 2 that there would be no magic bullet. Drawing up a new play wasn't going to fix it all. Nor would a new defensive scheme.

quot;We showed them mistake after mistake after mistake,quot; Rockets assistant coach Elston Turner said.

The Rockets didn't get it all corrected, but they took a step in the right direction. In a playoff game, a step is all that counts.

richard.justice@chron.com