"Though Jordan Hill was back to coming off the bench after two games as the Rockets starter, he had his most productive game since mid-January.

Hill made 5 of 7 shots to score 12 points in 23 minutes, adding eight rebounds, three assists and a blocked shot. In his two starts with Luis Scola out, he shot well, making 7 of 11 shots, but had just seven rebounds.

"I thought he played well," Adelman said. "He rebounded well. That's what we need every night from him. He's got to come in and make an impact around the basket every night. He can score. He can make shots, but if he's just standing around, it's not going to happen for him."

After many games in which the Rockets could not get a last shot to fall, they were not apologizing for Monday's win, secured when the Suns' Jared Dudley missed an open 3 in the final seconds.

"We almost let the game slip away," guard Kyle Lowry said. "A missed shot by one of their best shooters helped us out a little bit. We got a good break. Sometimes the ball bounces that way. This year, we didn't have a lot of balls bounce in our favor. We'll take every last one of those we can get. Kevin Durant missed one. They made a similar comeback to yesterday. He missed an elbow jump shot."

Monday's win stood out, however, because the Rockets so badly mishandled the final possessions. "