With every injury the Portland Trail Blazers suffer (yet somehow seem to stagger through), the handful of teams below itching for that eighth and final playoff spot in the Western Conference perk up.

Along with the Memphis Grizzlies, Phoenix Suns, Golden State Warriors and Los Angeles Clippers, the Houston Rockets are trying to find a winning formula to make that leap out of the lottery.

At 23-28, Houston remains four games behind Portland.  Given that the Blazers have already won the season series (one meeting left on March 1st in Portland), the Rockets will have to do better than just tie by season’s end.

The recent schedule hasn’t been favorable.  If it weren’t for a wild three-point play by Kevin Martin in the final seconds by Kevin Martin against the Utah Jazz, the Rockets would have lost four straight on a difficult road trip that included the Dallas Mavericks, San Antonio Spurs, Lakers and Jazz.

Now in February, the team will play six of their next nine in Houston but that doesn’t mean wins are a given.

"We’ve struggled against the good teams at home especially," said Coach Rick Adelman.  "We’ve lost a lot . . . at home in the fourth quarter when we’re right in the game and we’re ahead but we’re not able to finish the game.  It’s mostly been against good teams and unfortunately our scheduled lent itself to playing good teams."

The upcoming stretch has its share of difficult competitors like the Memphis Grizzlies, Denver Nuggets and Mavericks.

Perhaps the finish in Utah signifies a change for the Rockets who have had to deal with a number of injuries this season, most notably to Yao Ming who was lost once again for the year.

While the team had grown used to playing without Yao last season when he was out, the more damaging injury was to guard Aaron Brooks (ankle) who has missed 24 games this season.

"Losing Aaron for 20+ games really hurt us and he’s still trying to get himself back into shape.  He was our main guy," said Adelman.  "We went to him with games on the line.   We’ve been a very hit and miss team this year.  Last year we were consistent night after night, we kind of knew what we were going to do.  Right now we’re kind of searching on how we’re going to finish games."

Finding a closer in basketball can be a difficult, difficult process. 

The Rockets need Brooks to return to form but physically he’s still not himself.

"I’m just getting confidence in it," said Brooks.  "It’s like you do the wrong move, you feel like you tweaked it again."

Lakers Coach Phil Jackson said he thinks Aaron is getting closer.

"He looks like he’s starting to turn a corner and come back into form," said Jackson before Brooks scored 16 points and dished eight assists with just one turnovers in Houston’s overtime defeat in Los Angeles.

"It’s just confidence," said Brooks.  "It will come.  I’m waiting for it."

In the meantime, Adelman continues to search for the right combination of players.

"I’ve been just trying to go with the feel for the game to see how we can win that particular game," said Adelman.  "Our margin for error isn’t great."

Houston is off until Saturday when they host the Grizzlies who at 26-24 are 3 1/2 games ahead of the Rockets.

So far Houston has a 2-1 series lead.  A win would shave a full game off the deficit and lock in the tiebreaker for Houston. {AUTHOR_BOX}

Of course catching Memphis is just one of many steps the Rockets need to take to catch the somehow resilient Blazers.

Blake Griffin & Pau Gasol All-Stars

The voters selected Kobe Bryant to be an All-Star starter but now he’ll be joined by teammate Gasol and Los Angeles Clipper Blake Griffin.

Blake is the first rookie to be selected since Yao Ming in 2003.  Last year the Clippers did have a player on the All-Star Team, Chris Kaman, but he’s missed almost the entire season thus far.

Current Laker and former Clipper Lamar Odom was overlooked but then so was Steve Nash, LaMarcus Aldridge, Zach Randolph, Rudy Gay, Kevin Love, Monta Ellis and a host of other worthy candidates.

Coaches in the Western Conference made the selection collectively, voting for two forwards, two guards, a center and two "flex" players. 

While the specific votes aren’t revealed, Phoenix Suns Coach Alvin Gentry came out and said he voted for Griffin.

Of course Clippers Coach Vinny Del Negro didn’t.  Coaches can’t vote for their own players.

Commissioner David Stern still needs to appoint a replacement for Yao, who was voted in despite his injury.

Word is Nash is the favorite although Love and Aldridge would certainly be worthy.

Odom has had one of the best seasons of his career but it’s understandable, given his secondary or even tertiary role on the Lakers.

Given how Griffin has revitalized the Clippers and drawn the attention of the entire NBA (one incredible dunk at a time), his selection was a wise choice.