In a season that has tested his patience and temper, Tomjanovich finally had seen enough. So in the Rockets' locker room at halftime of Tuesday's game with the Raptors, Tomjanovich sought a way to spark a comeback after an uninspired 24 minutes of basketball.

"You have to pick your times," said Tomjanovich, whose team trailed by 15 points at halftime to a Raptors team that hasn't won in nearly a month. "If you have to do those things all the time, it loses the effect. To me, it's just a natural thing. You just can't always have a formula. You have to go on gut feeling. I thought that's what we needed at that time."

After watching a first half with all the warm and fuzzy feelings surrounding the return of Hakeem Olajuwon and plenty of giving by the turnover-prone Rockets, Tomjanovich said his team needed something more like a "time bomb" than an alarm clock to get out of their rut.