Rockets to stick to what worked

Energy. Effort. Drive. Determination.

If only the Houston Rockets could bottle all they had in Game 4 at home and bring it with them for Game 5 tonight at Staples Center.

With those characteristics, the Rockets overcame the loss of injured center Yao Ming to a broken left foot and tied their Western Conference semifinal series with the Lakers at two games apiece.

“We know it’s going to be a different game, but we know we have to play the same way,” said Rockets Coach Rick Adleman on Monday.

“We just can’t change the way we play. We just have to expect them to be a lot better, and we just want to stay in the game. That game is over with from last night.”

But oh what a game it was for the Rockets, who:

* Led by as many as 29 points.

* Got a playoff career-high 34 points from Aaron Brooks.

* Turned the ball over just 11 times.

* Outrebounded the Lakers, 43-37, even without Yao, their 7-foot-6 All-Star center, who is out for the rest of the season.

It will be difficult for the Rockets to duplicate that effort against the Lakers on the road. But after a light practice Monday at the Clippers’ training facility in which they shot some and watched film, the Rockets said they would push on and see how the game shakes out.

“We know what’s good for us -- ball movement, getting loose balls. We know those are things you hope to take from [Game 4],” Shane Battier said. “[But] every game is different. You just want to play with energy and play loose, play free. . . .

“We can’t go into the game thinking the Lakers are going to play the same way. They are going to play a much better game.”

The Rockets will put the ball in Brooks’ hands again and let him operate against a Lakers defense that didn’t come close to containing him in Game 4.

“If we do things right, they are going to have a hard time cutting Aaron off,” Adleman said. “If we move people and move the ball, eventually you’re going to go back to him and he’s going to be able to attack.”

The Lakers could be without forward Lamar Odom, who has a bruised lower back and is questionable for tonight’s game.

Odom was injured when he fell on his back after running into Battier on a drive toward the basket in the third quarter of Game 4. Odom had a CT scan and MRI exam Monday morning and underwent treatment at the team’s practice facility in El Segundo.

If Odom is unable to play, Lakers Coach Phil Jackson didn’t say who might start in his place.

“He’s pretty key for them defensively because he is so active and he gives them a ballhandler that’s big,” Adleman said. “I don’t know what they could do. They could play big. If they get any bigger, we’re in big trouble.”

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