"Terrence Williams was not about to celebrate playing mop-up minutes at the end of a bad loss, but they were the first minutes he has played since the Dec. 15 trade to the Rockets.

"It's always good when you get to play basketball," said Williams, who played the final eight minutes in Portland on Sunday.

The Rockets are 6-2 since the trade was official Dec. 17.

Williams did not get an assist, but had three good passes inside that forced Portland to foul. He made one of his two shots, scoring four points.

"He's a very good passer and can handle the ball," Rockets coach Rick Adelman said. "He found people, but it's hard to judge him in a 20-point game like that. I thought he did fine with the minutes he got."

The Rockets allowed 46 points in the paint in each of their three games prior to Monday's game at Denver, which is an increase from their average of 42.3 points allowed in the paint per game prior to those three games.

The difference might not have been as much about halfcourt defense as rebounding and sloppy offense, with turnovers and a lack of ball movement making it easier for teams to run."