It was a draining loss that left coach Jerry Sloan walking away with what he said were "a lot of emotions -- mixed and everything else."

"It was a winnable ballgame," added Sloan, whose Jazz fell to 18-14 one night after beating Dallas at home. "We missed a couple free throws, and had a chance. Pretty tough to swallow."

Utah -- playing a second straight game without all three of its top power-position players, injured Carlos Boozer (strained/bruised knee), Mehmet Okur (back spasms) and Paul Millsap (sprained knee ligament) -- trailed by as many as 16 early in the third quarter, and by 12 early in the fourth before rallying to force added time.

Twenty-eight-point game-high scorer Ron Artest accounted for 10 of Houston's 19 points in the second overtime, including eight on perfect free-throw shooting in the period.

And that had Sloan fuming throughout much of the final five minutes.

"In the last overtime they scored 19 points (and) they had two field goals," Sloan said after the 20-11 Rockets finished the night 32-of-38 from the line -- more than double the Jazz's 18 free-throw attempts.

"Some of that (was) we were trying to foul at the end. But ... (Jazz point guard) Deron (Williams) went in there a couple of

times and couldn't come away with anything," he added. "But that's part of Basketball. There's nothing I can do about it except complain and be upset."

Williams -- who had a 14-point, 11-assist double-double -- was able blow past Rockets point Rafer Alston and drive the lane for a layup to tie the game at 96 with 12.8 seconds to go in regulation.

Yao, who finished 9-of-23 from the field and with three turnovers, couldn't get off a shot on the other end and passed out to Artest for a trey try that came up short.

And after Andrei Kirilenko's attempted alley-oop in-bounds pass to 23-point team-high scorer Ronnie Brewer failed to connect -- referee Joe DeRose ruled the pass was deflected, allowing the last 0.5 seconds to expire -- the first OT was on.

Houston's final possession in the fourth was one of many frustrating trips for Yao, who was guarded for much of the night by seldom-used center Kyrylo Fesenko -- with relief from rookie replacement-starter Kosta Koufos.

"Personally," Houston coach Rick Adelman said, "I think that they just mugged him all night long."

Fesenko -- who scored a career-high 12 points and pulled down a career-high 11 rebounds for his first career double-double -- started the first OT and dunked to make it 101-100 Houston with 44.8 seconds remaining in that period.

Yao couldn't hit a baseline turnaround jumper over Fesenko on Houston's ensuing trip down the floor, and Shane Battier fouled Brewer after he rebounded a Kirilenko miss to send the Jazz guard to the line with 8.5 seconds to go in OT No. 1.

Brewer hit the first but missed his second, and yet another Yao miss -- this time with both Fesenko and Kyle Korver on him -- prompted OT No. 2.

Artest made four straight freebies to get Houston off to a 105-101 start in that one, and he hit four more on successive trips to the line with 1:14 left and 52.5 seconds left to make it 116-107.

"In the second overtime," Kirilenko said, "they had like three or four possessions in a row where Ron Artest got the ball in the low post and he just overplay(ed) us."

"Coming down the stretch we had a difficult time trying to get our rotation over to try to get the ball out of his hands," Sloan added. "And when we did, the one time we did, they got a layup off it because we fell asleep. But that's what happens sometimes with younger guys, trying to figure out where they're supposed to be and what they're supposed to do. You have to live with that."

The Jazz, meanwhile, came up dry on three straight possessions in the game's second-to-last minute -- an offensive foul on Koufos, and two drives by Williams in which he walked away seeking a call.

"We didn't execute our offense down the stretch, and that's not who were are," Williams said after the Jazz lost despite shooting nearly 10 better than the Rockets and despite committing half as many turnovers at nine vs. 18. "We had a couple of chances to win the game, and we couldn't get the job done." E-mail: tbuckley@desnews.com