Rudy T likes direction of learning curve One small step at a time. That's pretty much the Rockets' motto during these hard times, when they seem to drop bodies and games like autumn leaves falling from the trees. The process began when Hakeem Olajuwon went out, undergoing the hernia surgery that is expected to keep him out another month or so. That process accelerated greatly when Charles Barkley blew out his quadriceps tendon a little over a week ago, ending his career. Suddenly, the Rockets, always one of the more veteran-laden teams in the NBA, became long on youth and inexperience. Rumor has it referees will card the Rockets before allowing them to take the court. So in the process of going from long in the tooth to long shots, the coaching staff is taking things one step at a time, hoping those lessons eventually will translate into the victory that will snap the Rockets' five-game losing streak. The next step happens tonight, when the Rockets face the Boston Celtics at Compaq Center. "We're doing well," said Rockets coach Rudy Tomjanovich. "We talked about building positives on top of positives. We played a championship team on their court and had them beat for three-quarters of the game. But then we fell into being young and not knowing how to close out a game. "We can't take away the positive things we did, so a lot of our practices are not only correction tools, but keeping their spirits up and understanding that it's a process that's going to take a little bit of time. Probably a lot of time." It seems like a long time since the Rockets' last win, a 102-99 victory over Vancouver. And the reason for that could be seen in the statistics for that home win over the Grizzlies: leading scorer -- Charles Barkley, 25 points; leading rebounder -- Charles Barkley, 13; leading assists -- Charles Barkley and Steve Francis, seven. Since then, times have been pretty tough. Minus not only veteran leadership, but the decision-making that comes with age, the Rockets have struggled. They fell behind by 25 points at Boston on Dec. 10, but managed to tie the game at 89. But the rally petered out, leaving the Rockets on the short end of a 100-96 score. They stayed close to New York last Tuesday, but watched it all unravel in the fourth quarter in a 101-90 loss at Compaq Center. They were even closer the next night in San Antonio, holding as much as a nine-point lead in the fourth quarter, only to see the veteran Spurs make all the big plays to hand the Rockets an 83-77 loss. "I was in college, my first year we were 7-20," said Cuttino Mobley of his team at Rhode Island. "And 15 of those games were decided by under four points. And that was just like this -- in the fourth quarter, we lose. "But the next year, we were the conference champs and went to the (NCAA) Tournament. So, it's going to take time. With what we're doing, you need patience." Right now it's just a matter of the little things -- missed free throws, crucial turnovers and a few bad defensive rotations -- making a big difference in the outcome. "Exactly," Tomjanovich said. "But other teams do that, too. But our margin of error is so small right now that just a few things like that could cost us the game. But other teams make those same mistakes, and we have to get to the point where we see them make a mistake, we're recognizing there's an opening and taking advantage of it. "I mean this as no disrespect to our guys, but it's like asking a teen-ager to take care of a household. Some of the time they can do it, but when the pressure hits, they're not quite ready for it. And that's what this year is about. But we're going to stay positive, we're going to stay in a teaching mode ... and keep this moving in a positive direction." The players understand that. "We're definitely making some strides in the right direction," said center Thomas Hamilton, who has started the last two games. "We just have to get those last couple of minutes in the fourth quarter -- we have to get those right. But we're learning that." And they're learning youth and athleticism will carry a team only so far. "Yep, exactly," Tomjanovich said. "That's truly the way of the world. If we expect to have it right now, (then that's) the easy way out. All the good stuff, you have to work for. But I'm still positive that we have the kind of guys who can (do it). "Usually, a team like this (in the process of rebuilding) gets blown out all the time. They just get discouraged and lose their focus, but these guys haven't."
