Horry Vows to Play; Will Guards Show Up? : NBA finals: Rockets’ Smith and Maxwell need to respond to Knick counterparts in pivotal Game 5.

There was a full moon in the Houston Rockets’ locker room at Madison Square Garden late Wednesday night, a sighting of no astronomical significance but of great consequence to these NBA finals.

Robert Horry, Houston’s starting small forward, was lying on his stomach on the training table, getting ice bags on his injured lower back, shorts down, the, southern part of the tailbone in full view. The New York Knicks haven’t exposed the Rockets’ erratic backcourt that much, and he would have been embarrassed by the predicament had the pain not been so acute.

“I thought something was broken,” Horry said. “It felt like someone was cutting across my back.”

Thursday, Horry was in a much better position. He not only was sitting up, but he participated in the Rockets’ light practice at the Downtown Athletic Club, home of the Heisman Trophy, and declared himself 98% healthy and 100% ready to play his usual role tonight in Game 5.

X-rays taken earlier in the day of his pelvis, tailbone and right wrist showed nothing broken after the flagrant foul by Anthony Mason in the third quarter of Game 4, when Horry was driving to the basket, got hit high, went almost vertical and hit the ground hard. His left hand, slightly injured along with his right wrist as he tried to break the fall, and lower back were still sore at practice, but the prognosis was better than had been expected.

“That’s how you break your tailbone,” said team physician Walter Lowe. “He’s very lucky.”

So are the Rockets. If Horry had been unable to play, they would have faced a huge drop-off in the 2-2 series with Matt Bullard, seldom-used Chris Jent or under-sized Mario Elie against 6-foot-10 Charles Smith. They would have lost their third-leading scorer in the playoffs and their second-leading shot blocker.

And now the Rockets must treat another injury, Kenny Smith’s broken shot. Actually, it’s more than that. Smith’s whole game needs treatment, considering the way he has been dominated by counterpart Derek Harper.

Smith has made five of 19 shots and is coming off his worst showing. He had two fouls before Game 4 was 4 1/2 minutes old, came out and made spot appearances the rest of the way. He played one minute with the outcome on the line in the fourth quarter, finished with 19 minutes, and now has played four fewer in the series than backup Sam Cassell.

Coach Rudy Tomjanovich said he will stick with Smith in the starting lineup--for now. Vernon Maxwell, the shooting guard who is shooting 36.1%, has tried to light a fire under his backcourt mate by getting in his face at every possible moment, telling him to stay aggressive. Go out and play like a lunatic for a stretch of Game 5, Maxwell says.

“Sort of like me,” he said.

The Rockets’ three-guard rotation could use something because it is shooting 34.9%, topped by the 37.9% of Cassell.

“Me and him, we’ve been through so much together,” Maxwell said of Smith. “It’s like, ‘You know if we lose this series, Kenny, it’s going to be me and you.’ Everyone’s going to blame the guards.

“I feel like he’s a little down because he is not playing well. He just has to be aggressive. When he is, he’s one of the better point guards in the league. When he isn’t, he’s average. I’m going to stay on him.”

Smith insists he is not down, only a bit demoralized that he is struggling at the same time Harper is playing so well, shooting 51% overall--51.9% on three-pointers--and averaging 17 points.

“I’ve got to get on the floor,” Smith said. “I’m not good enough to do any good in 19 minutes. I don’t think anyone is good enough to do it in that amount of time.

“There’s no set time frame I need. But if you look at the stats (tonight) and I play 35 minutes, you could say some great things happened.”