Ron Artest was doing his stand-up routine, with Yao Ming roaring his approval to every one-liner. Yao was rocking backward, slapping Artest's back, going from giggles to guffaws at Artest's comic stylings.
The Rockets had finally won a playoff series, the first for Yao and most of the team. The demons of the franchise's recent past and Trail Blazers had been defeated in six games, and the organization celebrated with a collective sigh of relief exhaled through those broad smiles. That was when Artest got serious.
"I'm not happy just getting out of the first round," Artest said. "That's just not how it goes here. That's not L.A.'s goal, that's not Boston's goal, that is not Cleveland's goal and it's not our goal.
"They should not be happy with this. Let's move on and want us to win more."
The Rockets had sought relief from the first-round losing streak for so long that it was enough of a breakthrough to have an impact.
The Rockets can move on to the Western Conference semifinals against the Los Angeles Lakers either freed from those burdens or satisfied, either confident or content.
Yao, however, sought to answer those questions before they were asked.
"Obviously, we need to keep moving forward," he said.
"We need to get another goal, which is the next level. Obviously, before (Thursday's win) people talked about how many years the Rockets didn't make it out of the first round and how many years I didn't make it out of the first round. Right now, there's a new meaning. We just need an entirely new mindset to find a new goal, recharge ourselves and keep going."
He did not have to add that the challenge only begins with getting recharged. The Lakers ran away with the Western Conference this season, driven to return to the Finals. The Rockets were 14-9 against the other Western Conference playoffs teams this season; they were 0-4 against the Lakers, losing by an average of 13 points per game.
"A lot of people are happy to get to the second round, but we can't be satisfied,' guard Aaron Brooks said. "We got a lot of work to do. L.A. is a different type of beast."
Different challenge
The games in Houston were close, but as encouraging as the Rockets' first-round success might have been, it is a giant step up from the young Trail Blazers getting their first exposure to the postseason to a Lakers team that has openly called winning a championship to be the only satisfactory goal.
"It's going to be a dogfight," said guard Von Wafer, a former Lakers draft pick. "We just have to go in there and know that we can win. We can't go in there and be good with a close game down the stretch. We have to try to win. We just can't get satisfied with being there."
As much as the Rockets might have enjoyed ending their first-round slump and showed their delight at Artest's open-mic night, the matchup with the Lakers offers a quick reminder
"The good news is that the bandwagon is clear," Shane Battier said. "I don't think that we'll have to worry about overconfidence or that we'll have people telling us that it will be an easy series for us, so we have that going for us. It will be a tough series. They're playing as well as anyone in the league right now. They have the best record in the West and we've had some issues with them this year, but we're going to go in there and try to much it up and try to make it a knuckleball-spitball game and try to win ugly."
?House money'
The Rockets have gone from being haunted by the past to looking at what is next. Yao has gone farther than he ever has. And Artest has gone from being doused by a beer tossed from the crowd in Auburn Hills, Mich., to being offered one in the stands in Houston.
Theirs was not the last laugh, but for a night, at least, they could laugh heartily.
"We're playing with house money now," Battier said. "Like I said, no one is expecting much out of us. We're expecting something out of us."
jonathan.feigen@chron.com
Rockets vs. Lakers
Monday
At Los Angeles, 9:30 p.m.
TV/radio: TNT; 610 AM, 850 AM (Spanish) conference semifinal
Wednesday
At Los Angeles, 9:30 p.m.
TV/radio: TNT; 610 AM, 850 AM (Spanish)
May 8
Toyota Center, 8:30 p.m.
TV/radio: ESPN; 610 AM, 850 AM (Spanish)
May 10
Toyota Center, 2:30 p.m.
TV/radio: ABC; 610 AM, 850 AM (Spanish)
POINTS TAKEN
A look at how the Rockets fared during a 4-0 sweep at the hands of the Lakers during the regular season:
At Toyota Center: Rockets were outscored by 5.5 points per game.
At Los Angeles: Rockets were outscored by 20.5 points per game.
