The 11-point fourth-quarter lead was gone. The Rockets were reeling. The Minnesota Timberwolves were rolling.

But this has happened so many times that by Tuesday's closing stretch it seemed less a Rockets shortcoming than a goofy plan, as if they have blown all those fourth-quarter leads to somehow steel themselves for the final minutes.

Even if far from intentional, they surged through the final minutes Tuesday to an 82-75 win over the Timberwolves before 12,709 fans at Toyota Center, then no longer felt the need to quibble about how they got there or even that Tracy McGrady was not sure if he could play tonight in Phoenix with a bruised abdomen.

"Actually, at the point it's getting close, I'm not nervous," Yao Ming said. "I didn't feel worried. That's the way we play. We've gone through this many times."

Even Rockets coach Jeff Van Gundy, laughingly calling himself the Norman Vincent Peale of positive coaching spin, happily pointed past the fine print and to the bottom line, with the Rockets' 10 wins their most in November since they went 15-1 in 1996.

"We didn't let them back in," Van Gundy said. "That's the negative way of looking at it. The more positive way of looking at it is that they did some good things because they're pros and they're trying. The same thing happened last night in Dallas.

"People get preoccupied with different things. What matters is you win. It doesn't matter how you start or how you finish. It's about winning."

With 3:39 remaining and all of the Rockets 11-point gone, the Rockets had hit an offensive wall as they searched for a 3-point shooter.

They found him in the corner, where he always is, with Shane Battier pump-faking and then hitting a leaning 3 to beat the shot-clock buzzer and more than stop the bleeding. With that one shot, he seemed to revive the Rockets.

Battier followed that 3 with another and after a Randy Foye turnover, Rafer Alston, who had made 2 of 13 shots, nailed a 3-pointer for a 77-70 Rockets lead. Alston followed that with a tear-drop in the lane to put the Rockets in front, 79-70, with 1:46 left.

Looking to positives

Van Gundy, however, might have become focused on the bright side after McGrady did not seem nearly as damaged as he looked when he left the court with one of the long, pained walks that became familiar sights last season.

McGrady, who returned to play 20 relatively effective second-half minutes, had bruised an abdominal muscle in a collision with former teammate Mike James.

"I don't know if it was an elbow or a kick," McGrady said. "Whatever it was, it was a painful hit in my abdomen. It was tough for me to breathe every step that I took. It was a painful blow."

McGrady said the pain worsened through the game, putting his availability tonight into question. But that was nowhere near as frightening a prospect as a repeat of last season's back problems.

"Last year is a very deep memory for us," Yao said. "Hopefully, that will never happen again."

The Rockets showed progress since last season just by being able to close out the win in the final four minutes without McGrady's scoring. McGrady finished with eight points, making just four of 14 shots. He did not attempt a shot in the final 7 1/2 minutes after hanging in the air and twisting to a jumper to beat the shot clock.

McGrady passed inside to Yao for a slam on the next possession, but with the Timberwolves in the zone that locked up the Mavericks in the fourth quarter on Monday, Minnesota completed its run back from an 11-point deficit to tie the game 68-68, with 4:42 left. That's when the Rockets righted themselves, starting with Shane Battier's corner 3 just before the shot-clock buzzer.

"Rafer (Alston) drove to the baseline and (Marko) Jaric ran out there pretty hard," said Battier, who made all five of his 3-pointers to finish with 17 points. "I was lucky I glanced up and saw one second (on the shot clock). I was just trying to get it off, hit the rim and hopefully we could get the rebound, but it went down."

A possession later, he nailed another 3-pointer before Alston made his customary late offensive surge. After making two of his first 13 shots, Alston nailed a 3-pointer and then sank a tear-drop in the lane for a 79-70 lead with 1:46 left.

"We're getting there, but we're still not getting better at sustaining the lead," Alston said. "Hopefully, we can take a 10-point lead to a 15-point lead. The best thing for us is we continue to play the defense we're playing in the fourth. If we keep fighting and rebounding the ball, we'll find a way to make some shots."

(China Daily November 30, 2006)