"Young and ambitious, with obvious gifts and perhaps even more raging competitiveness, Kevin McHale found himself the backup to one of the all-time greats. McHale battled Larry Bird, anyway.

"I liked to match up against Larry almost every day," McHale said. "It made me a lot better. I went with the second unit, got a chance to play against Hall of Fame guys every day in practice. It makes you better."

By his fourth season, McHale was NBA Sixth Man of the Year and took the honor again the next year before Bird moved to small forward and McHale became the Celtics starter. But nearly three decades later, McHale the Rockets coach has a bench McHale the Celtics star can appreciate.

He does not have a Bird to elevate the play of those around him. But Rockets reserves have pushed the starters, saving the Rockets when they have struggled and carrying them to victories on the road back-to-back over Portland and Phoenix.

"It started at practice," McHale said. "The few practices we have been able to have, their ball movement and body movement and just kind of how they've played has really been good, and they've been giving it to the starters pretty steady so they deserve their chance to go out there and play."

The surge built slowly but steadily after the Rockets' staggering start to the season."