<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">SAN ANTONIO - Of all the Rockets' aches and pains, the wounds that have come to diminish and perhaps even define their season, this was one they did not see coming, not Sunday, and most of all not here. Tracy McGrady's back continued to torment him and the Rockets. David Wesley's ribs screamed in pain as if he had been hit with a sledgehammer. But when the Rockets headed home Sunday with an 88-81 loss to the Spurs, the Rockets' 17th consecutive loss in San Antonio, they brought with them the throbbing pain of thoughts of what could have been. Regret, it turns out, hurts, too. "We're not a team like earlier in the season," Rockets center Yao Ming said. "We know we can play." That was what stung. The Rockets, at least for much of the game, had overcome the losses of McGrady and eventually Wesley. They led 42-38 at halftime. They put together an outstanding fourth quarter to cut a San Antonio lead that had reached 11 points to as little as two. But they also came out for the start of the second half so slowly, they helped send the Spurs flying. And after three quarters of taking away the paint and cutting off San Antonio point guard Tony Parker, the Rockets could do little to slow the Spurs' fourth-quarter jaunts through their defense. As outmanned as the Rockets might have been, their second-half failings left them lamenting what they could have done but didn't. "We could have come out in the third quarter," guard Rafer Alston said. "That was the turning point. "We came out of the locker room lackadaisical, not in tune, not ready for what they were going to hit us with."</div> Source
