For the first time since late January, the Houston Rockets were on the wrong side of the box score on Tuesday night. The Boston Celtics, laying the groundwork for a historic season of their own, ended Houston?s 22-game win streak with an impressive second half performance.

The Rockets couldn?t keep the Celtics from grabbing their second Texas road win in as many nights, despite knocking off teams like the Lakers, Hornets (twice), and the Mavericks during their remarkable ride.

Beginning with a victory over the Warriors on Jan. 29, and ending with a win over the Lakers on Sunday, Houston rocketed (pun intended) to the top of the Western Conference thanks to tremendous teamwork and a strong dose of toughness.

What was even more impressive than the streak itself was the fact that the Rockets reeled off the last ten wins of the run without Yao Ming, who hasn?t played since Feb. 24 against the Bulls.

With Yao, the team?s leading scorer, rebounder, and shot blocker, suffering from a broken foot, a handful of players have stepped up to keep the Rockets afloat in the uber-competitive West.

Rafer Alston is averaging 17.9 points, 4.6 assists and 3.4 rebounds in March, increasing his scoring numbers to help fill the void left behind by the team?s all-world center. Shane Battier, Luis Scola and McGrady have all increased their production by a few points as well, with rookie Carl Landry having added a huge punch off the bench before suffering an injury of his own.

Since the all-star, break Houston has been shooting a torrid 46.6% from the field ? two percentage points higher than their average in the first half of the season.

However, it wasn?t the Rockets? offensive fire-power that allowed them to go on a winning streak dwarfed by just one team in the history of the NBA. They clamped down on the defensive end in a big way, allowing opponents to score just 85 points a night during the streak.

So, in addition to scoring nearly five more points a game during their run, they helped keep their dominance alive by playing incredible defense. That allowed them to win despite a few offensive struggles along the way.

Nearly two months after they downed Golden State to kick things off, the Rockets have lowered their opponent?s scoring average to 91.7 points, fourth-best in the NBA behind Boston, Detroit and San Antonio. Teams are shooting just 42.9% against Houston this season, a mark that is bested by only the Celtics, who have the league?s best record by a handful games.

The Rockets have accomplished that in a myriad of ways.

They are keeping teams off the foul line and have the highest rebounding differential by a full point over the next best team in the league. Their rebounding numbers are bound to fall with Yao out in the lineup, but the experience and time that some of the lesser known Rockets have received during the streak could pay huge dividends for Houston in the playoffs.

With that said, the only thing this run did for their postseason resume was make an appearance possible.

In mid-January the Rockets were far from a postseason lock, even with a healthy Yao. While they stand atop the conference now, tied with the Lakers for first-place, they can?t expect to enjoy the view from above for too long. Their next three games are against the Hornets, Warriors, and Suns (all on the road) and a host of teams are breathing down their neck.

The Rockets have just a six-game lead over the ninth-place Denver Nuggets and anything can happen out West especially with Houston having to play away from the Toyota Center in ten of their remaining fifteen games, and Denver possessing a considerably easier schedule as the regular season winds down.

It?s amazing to believe that McGrady, after guiding his team to the second-longest winning streak in history, will need continued help from guys like Alston, Scola and Battier just to ensure a chance to finally get out of the first round.

I don?t mean to knock the Rockets, because it?s obvious that only a very good team could reel off such a streak, but no team presents a favorable matchup for them in the West without Yao. In a seven-game series teams will be able to gameplan more extensively, exploiting their lack of size (Dikembe Mutombo will be eligible for AARP when the playoffs start) and forcing McGrady to rely on his teammates while still carrying the weight on a career-long playoff drought on his aching back.

The 22-game win streak was nice, but in the end T-Mac will be remembered for his run of postseason futility and not much else. Even he knows that.


While You Were Out

Some pretty interesting things happened while the Rockets were busy winning more games in a row than six NBA teams have won all season...

- Pau Gasol was playing in Memphis when the streak started

- The Patriots were still undefeated

- Chris Bosh was campaigning for a starting All-Star spot

- NASCAR had yet to kick off its 2008 season

- The Heat went 2-20

- Billy Crystal had yet to begin his Major League career

- LeBron James recorded three triple-doubles

- Jason Kidd was having migraines in New Jersey

- I wrote 36 editions of the Scoop Du Jour for RealGM

- Chris Paul was a ?sexy? MVP pick, not a front-runner

- Houston?s winning percentage rose fifteen points

- The Pacers winning percentage dropped five points

- The Mitchell Report was still interesting news

- Peter Forsberg was still skating somewhere in Europe

- Danny Ferry was still twiddling his thumbs in Cleveland

- John McCain had yet to win the Republican Nomination

- Britney Spears was a little less crazy


Andrew Perna is a Senior Writer for RealGM.com. Feel free to contact him via e-mail ([email protected]) with comments of questions.