After Time With Clippers, Piatkowski Is Ready to Win

Eric Piatkowski didn’t quite feel as if he were in jail, as Ron Harper once described it, but being with the Clippers for nine seasons had its restrictions.

Piatkowski, in his first season with the Houston Rockets, had not played on a team that finished above .500, until now. He has never been on the winning side in a playoff game, and his one postseason trip was so short, a three-game sweep by Utah in 1997, it was barely worth remembering.

Piatkowski, 33, signed a three-year, $9-million contract with the Rockets last July because he liked the idea of being on a playoff contender.

“The Clippers might be a couple years away from making the playoffs and it’s not in the cards for me to wait a couple years,” he said.

Piatkowski hasn’t played much this season, averaging a career-low 4.1 points in 14.3 minutes a game, although his drop in production would be a drop in the bucket if the Rockets kept playing for a while.

“I’m in my 10th year and I just want to win,” Piatkowski said. “I don’t care about individual things. I don’t care about scoring. I don’t care what it takes. Whatever is asked of me to do to go out there and win, that’s what I want to do.

“Granted, we’re in the Western Conference and there are some great, great teams. But we have the ability to do well. It wouldn’t be a fluke for us to go all the way to the Western Conference finals. We’ve played well against all the top teams.

“We have what you need. We have Yao Ming, a big stud inside, we have one of the most talented point guards in the league, great role players to surround them with and we’re a defensive-oriented team.”

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Rocket guards Steve Francis and Cuttino Mobley, who stepped up their play against the Lakers this season, will play tonight after missing the last two games of the regular season because of injuries.

Francis, who has a sprained right wrist and an inflamed left elbow, averaged 19 points and 7.8 assists in four games against the Lakers, better than his season averages of 16.6 points and 6.2 assists.

Mobley, who has been bothered by a bruised left shoulder, averaged 16.8 points and 4.8 assists, better than his averages of 15.8 points and 3.2 assists.

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So much for hometown cheer.

A poll on the Houston Chronicle website asked fans if the Rockets would make it past the first round of the playoffs. Of the 14,707 votes cast by Friday night, 69% said no.

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Times staff writer Jerry Crowe contributed to this report.