Houston's

Yao has

21 points

JOE FREEMAN

HOUSTON --LaMarcus Aldridge sat in the corner of the visitors' locker room at the Toyota Center with a grimace planted on his face, two bags of ice wrapped around his knees and another bag attached to his wrist.

Brandon Roy chatted to a throng of reporters in a quiet, sometimes solemn, tone. Steve Blake dressed in silence, seemingly lost in thought.

Playoffs? Hah! The Trail Blazers saw their dreaded postseason drought come to an end Sunday, but there wasn't much celebrating in Houston after the Rockets administered a stinging 102-88 drubbing in front of 18,214.

"We're excited we made the playoffs, that was one of our goals," Aldridge said. "But we're not satisfied. Now we are trying to just play better to get a better position for the playoffs."

And if Sunday was the first test in that new goal for the Blazers, they failed miserably as Yao Ming and the physical Rockets virtually led from start to finish in a game that was billed as a possible playoff preview.

A win would have moved the Blazers (48-28) into a tie for third place in the Western Conference with San Antonio (49-27) and given them a leg up on the Rockets in the race for home-court advantage. Instead, the Blazers fell to fifth place, one-half game behind the Rockets (49-28). It also decreased the Blazers' chances of winning the Northwest Division championship, dropping them three games behind the Denver Nuggets (52-26).

So even though the Dallas Mavericks' 140-116 win over the Phoenix Suns ended the second-longest playoff drought in franchise history, the mood was mild in the Blazers' locker room after the game.

"We didn't play our best Basketball tonight," Blazers coach Nate McMillan said. "Offensively, we could never get a rhythm. We missed layups, we missed free throws . . . it just (wasn't) a sharply played game. We've played better and we know we can play better."

The Rockets took it to the Blazers with a blend of rugged play, tough defense, balanced scoring --and a heavy dose of Yao. The Blazers tried to contain the 7-foot-6 All-Star center by using a new tactic, having Aldridge front Yao from the power forward position while a Blazers center --Joel Przybilla or Greg Oden --provided zone help from behind.

The Rockets countered the tactic early by attacking from the outside as Luis Scola made a midrange jump shot and Aaron Brooks and Shane Battier hit three consecutive three-pointers in the first five minutes. Yao took over from there, scoring 10 points in a first quarter that saw Houston lead by as many as nine points.

It was a taste of things to come as Yao forced Przybilla and Oden into foul trouble early and finished with 21 points, 12 rebounds and three assists. Yao was deadly around the basket, accurate from the free throw line (9 of 11) and effective in attacking the offensive glass (six offensive rebounds). But he had a lot of help from a Rockets team that also had Scola (16 points on 8 of 10 shooting), Ron Artest (15 points), Brooks (14 points) and former Blazer Von Wafer (12 points) reach double figures in scoring.

All the while, the Rockets' defense --which is averaging 90.0 points at home --turned 12 Portland turnovers into 18 points and pushed, prodded and harassed the Blazers. Battier and Artest took turns blanketing Roy, who finished with 22 points but shot just 8 of 20 from the field, and the Blazers shot 45.2 percent as a team, including just 37.5 percent from three-point range.

"They were more physical than us," Przybilla said. "They outworked us and they wanted it more. It just seemed like they outmuscled us and did what they wanted to do to us."

Even so, the Blazers had their chances after clawing back from a double-digit second-half deficit. They cut the Rockets' lead to 74-70 with less than 10 minutes remaining in the game after Rudy Fernandez converted a driving layup. But the Blazers would get no closer as the Rockets scored six consecutive points --the last on a jaw-dropping reverse dunk by Wafer --to halt the momentum and end the rally.

The loss ended the Blazers' recent hot streak (four consecutive wins and seven of nine) and continued their dreadful play on the road against the top nine teams in the Western Conference, now at 1-13.

But even with all of the negatives and despite the spiritless postgame locker room, there was at least one player who took time to relish the fact that the Blazers have qualified for the playoffs for the first time since 2003.

"Of course you would have rather won to get into the playoffs, but we're still in the playoffs," said Przybilla, who has been with the Blazers since 2004. "For me and the guys who have been here for a while, Travis (Outlaw), Steve, the whole coaching staff --the guys who have been through the ups and downs --it's very gratifying for us. We're going to get into the playoffs and hopefully be in there for a lot of years to come."

Notes:

Aldridge had another stellar outing, finishing with 22 points, nine rebounds and three blocked shots, but injured his right wrist late in the third quarter when he endured a hard foul on a fast break and braced himself with his wrist. He underwent X-rays after the game and said they revealed that he had a bad sprain. He expects to play against Memphis on Tuesday night. . . . The Rockets improved to 31-8 at home. . . . The Blazers have lost 10 of their last 11 games at Houston. . . . In his first meeting against fellow No. 1 draft pick Yao, Oden finished with four points and zero rebounds.

Joe Freeman: 503-294-5183;

joefreeman@news.oregonian.com

To read his Behind the Beat blog,

go to http://blog.oregonlive.com/

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