ROCKETS NOTEBOOK: OVERTURNED BY TURNOVERS.

Byline: Rich Hammond  Staff Writer

After losing a one-point game, the losing players naturally rue every tiny mistake they made.

So the Houston Rockets had plenty of reasons to toss and turn in their sleep Saturday night.

The Rockets committed 22 turnovers, including an uncharacteristic seven from point guard Steve Francis. Houston averaged 15.8 turnovers per game in the regular season, second-worst in the league, and mistakes are magnified in the playoffs, especially against a star-powered team such as the Lakers.

``We want to use those turnovers as extra possessions for us on offense,'' Francis said. ``If you look at some of the passes that were made, during the regular season those were plays that we depended on. We're not going to hang our hat on not turning the ball over, because our defense is where we stand up.''

Houston's defense, which limited the Lakers to 72 points Saturday, certainly took some of the sting off the turnovers.

``I had seven and (Francis) had seven,'' guard Cuttino Mobley said. ``That's 14, and we're supposed to be two of the leaders. If we could have cut those down, it might have been a different story.''

Despite the problems, Houston coach Jeff Van Gundy said he didn't spend a significant part of practice Sunday stressing the importance of not turning over the ball in Game 2.

``It's not that they don't know the value of it,'' Van Gundy said. ``They know it, explicitly. The question is, can they do it? I know the importance of low turnovers too, and if (Gary) Payton was (in my face) I'd have a hard time holding on to the ball, too. You have to give some credit to the defense, but we also know that we need to pass the ball to ourselves better.''

--Three is key: The Rockets shot 36.6 percent from 3-point range during the regular season, the league's third-best mark, but made only 2 of 12 in Game 1. Van Gundy didn't shy away from the suggestion the 3-point shot is a crucial part of the Rockets' success.

`` 'Rely' is a pretty good word,'' Van Gundy said. ``We didn't make enough (Saturday) night. We had some good looks, but (the Lakers) did a great job defending the 3.''

--Give or take? The Rockets weren't happy with Shaquille O'Neal's suggestion the Lakers' poor shooting allowed the Rockets to stay close in Game 1.

``They didn't give us anything,'' Jim Jackson said. ``We came in there aggressive and we played good defense and didn't allow them to get to their spots. They missed some shots, but we missed some shots too. I think we played some good pressure defense and forced them to miss some shots.''