The Warriors (15-33) also seemed to be at the whim of Rockets forward Ron Artest, who posted a game-high 27 points to go with seven assists and seven rebounds.

But that was plausible, considering Artest is regarded as one of the more complete players in the NBA.

Neither could the Warriors stop backup point guard Aaron Brooks, who danced around the Warriors' defense to the tune of a career-high-tying 22 points and a career-high nine assists. That was unexpected. Kind of.

"He's very fast, and he changes the pace of the game when he comes in," said swingman Stephen Jackson, who finished with 16 points and five assists in 38 minutes. "Guys tend to get career highs against us."

Even without having to deal with Rockets star guard Tracy McGrady, who sat out Saturday's game with a sprained left ankle, Houston had too much for the Warriors to overcome.

The Warriors clawed and scrapped as they had in Friday's win at New Orleans. They were within reach of pulling off their second upset in as many days, and heading back home on perhaps their highest cloud of the season. But ...

"We just didn't have enough juice," Warriors coach Don Nelson said. "But we hung in there. If we could've made a couple of shots in the fourth quarter and cut it down to six, we might have won."

A minute and a half into the game, Yao converted a layup over Warriors' big man Ronny Turiaf and drew a foul. The three-point play cut the Warriors lead to 6-5, and it set the tone for the rest of the game.

Turiaf picked up his third foul less than two minutes into the second quarter, and center Andris Biedrins picked up his second midway through the second quarter. Nelson, not wanting both players out at the same time, chose to stick with them for stretches (as it was either play them or have rookie forward Rob Kurz guard Yao).

It backfired. Both Turiaf and Biedrins had four fouls each by halftime.

"It's really hard in the second half to play like that," Biedrins said after totaling eight points and seven rebounds in 23 minutes. "It really changes the whole game. You just have to stay back, and you can't really do much after you have four fouls."

Despite the crumbling levy of big men, the Warriors stayed close with defense.

The Rockets shot just 38.5 percent in the first quarter. The second quarter, Golden State just outgunned Houston. Getting 18 points from swingman Corey Maggette and guard C.J. Watson, the Warriors looked as if they were poised to pull another upset of a Western Conference playoff contender.

Watson nailed a running 3-pointer at the buzzer from 44 feet, and the Warriors trailed just 53-51 at the half.

The Warriors hovered around for most of the third quarter. They trailed 60-56 after a turnaround jumper by Yao. But guard Jamal Crawford put the Warriors back up by two after back-to-back 3-pointers.

The game didn't start getting away from the Warriors until later in the third quarter. Brooks powered a 7-0 run with two layups inside, the latter a three-point play at the 3:04 mark that put the Rockets ahead 78-71. Later in the fourth, Brooks' penetration set up open jumpers for forwards Luis Scola and Carl Landry. The latter put Houston ahead 92-80 with seven minutes left.

At the end of a road trip, finishing off a back-to-back, facing a legit playoff contender, the Warriors just couldn't muster enough to claw back again. That, perhaps, was expected.

"We battled hard," Nelson said. "We stayed around for a long time. I have no complaints."

Contact Marcus Thompson II at mthomps2@bayareanewsgroup.com