Resilient Rockets rolling despite trade, injury setbacks

The Rockets have lost Tracy McGrady for the rest of the season to a knee injury, Rafer Alston to a trade to Orlando and Carl Landry to a sprained ankle. But that's the only losing that's happening in Houston these days.

The Rockets are tied with the Lakers, Jazz and Cavaliers for the longest winning streak in the league, at four games. The streak started before the All-Star break against the Kings and has included wins over the Nets, Mavericks and Bobcats. The streak isn't nearly as historic as the 22-game ride that the Rockets had last season, the second-longest in league history to the Lakers' 33 straight in 1971-72. But it's still impressive in its own right.

After bottoming out in McGrady's last game with the team -- allowing a season high 124 points in a loss to the Bucks -- Houston rebounded to hold its next four opponents under 90 points. The last time the Rockets held four straight opponents under 90 was Nov. 12-17 of this season, but Houston dropped one of those games 77-75 to San Antonio.

Second-year forward Luis Scola has turned in four straight double-doubles during the streak (just the second time that he's notched 10-plus points and 10-plus rebounds in four straight games), averaging 14.0 points and 11.8 points.

"It's a good thing that we know -- this is who we have, this is who we are,'' Scola told reporters. "Now, everybody can take a role, whatever it is, and it's a good thing. I wish we could have everybody healthy. But this is who we have now, and we have to take it.''

As good as Scola has been of late, Yao Ming has been even better, averaging 21.3 points and 12.5 rebounds in the last four and praising his team's tenacity from start to finish.

"We are really focused, focused on 48 minutes, not like before," Yao said.

Scola and Yao aren't the only players to step up. Ron Artest is averaging 20 points on 51 percent shooting (when his season averages are only 16.2 on 39.6) during the streak, new starting point guard Aaron Brooks handled his first start post-Alston with 19 points and eight assists against Dallas and Von Wafer, signed for the league minimum, has nearly as many points during the streak (35) as he did during all of last season in 29 games played with Denver and Portland (46).

"These guys really believe there is no reason we can't win," Rockets head coach Rick Adelman told the Houston Chronicle.

Houston, at 35-21, sits a half game behind Portland for the No. 4 seed in the West. The Rockets will put their streak on the line and try to gain ground in the playoff race on Tuesday when they host the Trail Blazers.

With Denver's Carmelo Anthony, Detroit's Allen Iverson and Cleveland's Ben Wallace all taking the shears to their signature braids this season, second-year Phoenix forward Jared Dudley is thinking about just how long he'll continue to sport his cornrows.

"Once Iverson cuts his hair, he's the president, so I don't think I'm too far behind," Dudley said. "I planned on doing it next year, but you never know, now it might come a little early. I was head of security, Iverson was the president, Melo was the CEO."

Golden State's Ronny Turiaf also has removed his braids in favor of a ponytail look and less popular players -- New York's Eddy Curry, Detroit's Kwame Brown and the L.A. Lakers' Shannon Brown, to name a few -- also have eschewed the look.

"It's time for the clean-cut image of the NBA," Dudley said.

New Jersey's Josh Boone, Cleveland's Delonte West and Miami's Udonis Haslem are some of the more notable names out of the dozen or so players left in the league with the hairdo.

Sacramento rookie Donte Greene's Facebook status on Thursday said it all: "They traded da whole damn team!!!!!!!"

The Kings were the busiest team in the league at last Thursday's trade deadline, bringing in seven new players (Andres Nocioni, Drew Gooden, Cedric Simmons, Will Solomon, Rashad McCants, Ike Diogu, Calvin Booth), parting ways with four (Brad Miller, John Salmons, Shelden Williams, Bobby Brown) and briefly holding the rights to two more (Sam Cassell, Michael Ruffin) before shedding them (Cassell was waived and Ruffin was traded for Diogu).

Outside of veteran Bobby Jackson, who returned to the franchise as a role player this year after being a key contributor from 2000-05, Francisco Garcia and Kevin Martin are the only other players on the roster who have played more than 240 games in a Sacramento uniform.

"I congratulated him beforehand on what a great job he did because I haven't had problems with it."
-- New Orleans center Tyson Chandler explaining the "comical" circumstances of his trade to Oklahoma City being rescinded because the Thunder's doctor failed him in the physical, citing a nagging turf toe injury. The same doctor performed surgery on Chandler's toe two years ago.

"We're inventing new ways to get hurt. What's the percentage in the annals [of NBA history] of one of your players flying on an airplane and his eardrum caves in and has to have a procedure to put tubes in, under full sedation? It's kind of like, OK, what other kind of other injury could happen."
-- L.A. Clippers head coach Mike Dunleavy on his center Marcus Camby missing time with an ear infection after having his eardrum burst on an airplane during a flight during the All-Star break.

"Nobody's ever made it since we've been in Staples Center. The last time I saw somebody make it, we were at the Forum and the guy slid across the floor [in celebration] and broke his nose, so he probably had to use all the money to fix his nose."
-- L.A. Lakers guard Kobe Bryant after University of Southern California senior Robert Ward banked in a half court shot to win $165,000 at the Lakers game on Tuesday.

14 -- First-quarter assists for Portland's Steve Blake in Sunday's 116-87 win over the Clippers, tying John Lucas' mark set in 1978 for most assists in any quarter and eclipsing Magic Johnson's record for first-quarter assists of 12 set in 1984.

422 -- Total points scored by the Suns in their first three games with Alvin Gentry as interim head coach. Phoenix became the first team to score 140 points or more in three straight games since the Portland Trail Blazers did it from Nov. 13-17 in 1990.

1,300 -- Golden State head coach Don Nelson joined Hall of Famer Lenny Wilkins as the only other coach in the history of the NBA to reach 1,300 victories with a 133-120 win over Oklahoma City on Saturday.

The business of basketball can be cruel sometimes. If the Lakers win it all, Shannon Brown and Adam Morrison will receive rings for joining the team for the last 30 games of the regular season while Vladimir Radmanovic (166 career games as a Laker) and Chris Mihm (175 games) will not ... Just when it looked like San Antonio was stepping up as the clear No. 2 team in the West behind the Lakers, Manu Ginobili goes down for two to three weeks with a right ankle injury. The door is open for the Nuggets, who are game back of the Spurs ... The Jazz will wear a commemorative patch of the old team musical note logo with the initials "LHM" embroidered on it for the rest of the season to honor late owner Larry H. Miller, who died on Friday from complications from diabetes.