Houston digs deep to keep up its streak

HOUSTON -- Tracy McGrady didn’t have a point in the first half Sunday and still the Houston Rockets were leading the Lakers by 15 and went on to win by 12.

That, as much as anything, illustrates how the Rockets have won 22 consecutive games, vaulting them from 10th in the Western Conference to a confident first by a full game over the defensively vulnerable Lakers.

“It was a real test for us,” McGrady said, “and we came out and took care of it.”

Their going-away, 104-92 triumph at the jubilant Toyota Center might have been the most unlikely in a winning streak that has become the second-longest in NBA history.

The Rockets had put together fine defensive efforts before, having held opponents to 88.1 points per game during their streak.

And until they shot poorly against Atlanta and Charlotte in wins 20 and 21 -- overcoming a 13-point deficit against the Bobcats on Friday -- they were shooting about 46% as a team and were getting solid contributions from their bench.

But not until Sunday had their resolve been so strenuously tested.

McGrady, averaging 22.2 points this season and a shade under 30 points in his previous five games, missed six shots in the first half and his first nine overall before he made a short jumper with 2:54 left in the third quarter.

“You have nights like this in this game,” he said, shrugging.

While he sputtered, guard Bobby Jackson contributed 19 of the reserves’ 35 points and point guard Rafer Alston reached career-bests with eight three-point shots and 31 points.

“We stayed together as a team,” Shane Battier said. “There wasn’t a time when we wavered from what has been successful.”

Battier was a key part of that success by playing tireless and tenacious defense against Kobe Bryant, who scored 24 points. The Rockets’ team defense flagged in the third quarter but revived strongly in the fourth, when Bryant went two for 10 and the Lakers as a team made only eight of 21 field goal attempts.

“That’s the makeup of our team. You never know who’s going to come forward,” said McGrady, who finished with 11 points and six assists.

“We knew this was going to be a tough game. Kobe Bryant is a fierce competitor and I knew he wanted to break this streak, especially on our court.”

Bryant, who tried to take over the Lakers’ limited offense in the fourth quarter and played all but the last 56 seconds of the game, credited the Rockets’ bench for creating a spark that the Lakers couldn’t match.

The Rockets were the better team Sunday, but Bryant wasn’t ready to concede anything beyond that.

“Hopefully, they’re peaking early,” he said, smiling.

They very well may be.

Although the Rockets (46-20) have had to play without injured center Yao Ming the last 10 games, their schedule hasn’t been overly taxing.

They have played back-to-back games only three times during the streak, and they were lucky enough to play New Orleans without Chris Paul, Dallas without Dirk Nowitzki and the Lakers on Sunday without Pau Gasol.

They next play host to the East-leading Celtics on Tuesday, but even then, the Rockets will get a break. That game will be the Celtics’ second in two days, following a visit to San Antonio to play the Spurs tonight, but the Rockets said they’re not taking anything for granted.

“We’ve got about two hours to enjoy this and then we start thinking about that,” forward Chuck Hayes said amid the happy hubbub in the home team locker room Sunday.

Enjoy it, they did.

“Tonight, against the team we were tied with on top of the West, the team that we were supposed to lose to and be our test to see if we’re for real, it feels good,” Hayes said.

“We’re having a lot of fun. We don’t care who gets the credit.”

Coach Rick Adelman said his team Sunday “found out we can play with people,” but whether it can play well against the big boys in the playoffs is another matter.

Which is why McGrady, who has not won a playoff series in 10 seasons -- three with Toronto, four with Orlando and three with Houston -- was a voice of reason Sunday.

Asked whether beating the Lakers should silence the naysayers who question the Rockets’ potential, he refused to take any great leaps.

“This is the regular season. We had some success before in the regular season, though not quite like this,” he said.

“Don’t get me wrong. But I think with this team it’s just all about the postseason. I said before the season that we’re going to make the playoffs. I just believed we were going to make the playoffs.

“What we’re going to do when we get to the playoffs, that is the question. And that’s what I think everybody is really banking on.”

He said the streak has showed him the team has developed great mental strength, focus and selflessness.

“No one cares who gets the ball and who takes the most shots, who gets the fame,” he said.

They just care about winning, and have done that 22 times in a row.

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Helene Elliott can be reached at helene.elliott@latimes.com. To read previous columns by Elliott, go to latimes.com/elliott.