Who Are Those Guys Who Lose to Knicks?

When the Rockets are healthy, they start Hakeem Olajuwon, Robert Horry, Mario Elie, Sam Cassell and Clyde Drexler.

Tuesday night, they started Chucky Brown, Kenny Smith, Sam Mack, Mark Bryant and Tracy Moore.

“That guy who said ‘It can’t get worse than this,’ wasn’t even close,” Coach Rudy Tomjanovich said after the Rockets had shaved a 22-point deficit to three before faltering in an 83-74 loss to the New York Knicks at Houston.

It was the Rockets’ fifth loss in a row, and it happened in a game in which they fell behind, 52-30, at halftime.

“I think we need to try to figure what we need to get done in the first quarter because it’s very hard to fight back when you’re down by 20,” Bryant said. “We have to relax and believe we can win without our big guns. We need that extra effort and I think we can win some.”

It’s going to be difficult with a starting lineup that averages a combined 41.4 points per game, with Moore the high man at 9.0 for five games.

Still Houston went on a 24-6 run to open the second half to make things close.

“I keep saying how much heart this team has,” Tomjanovich said. “They just kept coming back, hustling. We just didn’t have enough gas to finish it off.”

Olajuwon and Horry sat out the game because of knee tendinitis. Mario Elie, Sam Cassell and Clyde Drexler already were out because of injuries.

Charles Oakley returned to the Knick lineup after missing 19 games because of a thumb injury, but New York was missing reserve guard Willie Anderson, who was arrested at The Summit before the game for allegedly failing to pay child support.

He was in jail late Tuesday on $130,000 bail.

OTHER GAMES

Charles Barkley converted a three-point play with 31 seconds left and Kevin Johnson made four free throws in the final 20.7 seconds for the Suns in a 102-98 victory over Sacramento at Phoenix. . . . Reggie Miller scored 18 points before leaving because of a cut over his right eye and the Pacers beat Boston, 103-96, at Indiana. . . . Juwan Howard’s 15-point second half helped lift Washington to a 96-89 victory at Cleveland. . . . Mookie Blaylock scored 26 points and made back-to-back three-point shots in the fourth quarter of Atlanta’s 114-111 victory at Toronto. . . . Grant Hill had 28 points and 17 rebounds at Auburn Hills, Mich., for Detroit in an 86-75 victory over Vancouver, the Grizzlies’ 19th loss in a row. . . . Larry Johnson made two baskets in the final 40 seconds of the second overtime for Charlotte in a 119-112 victory at Denver. . . . Gary Payton and Detlef Schrempf scored 23 points each for Seattle, which made 30 of 31 free throws in a 114-102 victory over Golden State at Oakland.

NBA Notes

San Jose’s City Council approved an agreement that will allow the Golden State Warriors to play next season in the San Jose Arena while the Oakland Coliseum Arena is being renovated.