Streak continues

The Rockets stepped up to a meeting with the Denver Nuggets, and blew them out, overwhelming Denver 103-89 for their 15th consecutive victory, matching their franchise record while extending their Rockets record to six-consecutive double-digit wins taken by an average of 17.5 points per game.

"We're still a good team, man," Rockets guard Tracy McGrady said after the Rockets' 10th consecutive home win gave them their longest home winning streak since the 1993-94 season that produced the most recent previous 15-game run. "What more we got to show you all? We're a good team.

"We believe. We don't care about what anybody says about us outside this locker room. We as a group, we believe and we know how good we are and we're showing it. We're a focused group, a group that understands how to win ballgames, playing great defensively.

"What more do we got to do?"

They left little undone in what was supposed to be another test. Then the Rockets took the team expected to challenge their presumed-tenuous hold on a playoff spot, and ran them off their floor, building their lead on Denver to four games.

With that, they were looking the other direction. Just two weeks after they left the All-Star break in ninth place (with the tiebreaker), they moved past Dallas and into fifth (with the tiebreaker edge they hold on Phoenix.)

Three games into life without Yao Ming, they are closer to the Spurs and Lakers at the top of the standings, separated by just 2 1/2 games, than they are from the ninth-place Nuggets.

"We're having fun," said Shane Battier, who had his season high with Yao out, just as his previous season-high of 18 came with McGrady out. "We are playing together as a team and it's been fun."

Battier had 20 points while holding Carmelo Anthony to 7-of-17 shooting and seven points shy of his 26 points per game average. Luis Scola combined to make 14 of 26 shots for 27 points, with Scola getting a career-high 14 rebounds.

(Agencies via China Daily March 4, 2008)