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The Rockets are strolling off the court after a morning shootaround when Jon Barry playfully jabs a newspaper at Dikembe Mutombo. "Look at this, Dikembe," Barry blurts out. "It says here you're the third-most overpaid player in the league." Mutombo, a backup center pulling down almost $19 million, continues on his way. Though he's deserving of such a claim--he's the league's second-highest paid player but plays only 13.7 minutes per game--the veteran center cracks a smile. He knows Barry merely is giving him grief. Trash talking is a favorite pastime among teammates--especially when their team is playing well.

No team is playing better than the Rockets these days. They came out of the All-Star break on an eight-game winning streak, the franchise's best in nearly six years. After losing by 28 points at Milwaukee in late December, the Rockets won 19 of 25 games and moved a season-best 11 games over .500. Early on, it seemed Houston would struggle to reach the playoffs, but now it's closing in on the West's best.

There are reasons aplenty for the surge:

* Tracy McGrady, after an adjustment period following last offseason's trade to Houston, has resumed his status as happy superstar. McGrady has raised his scoring average 5.4 points--to 25.6--since November. He is making an effort on defense, too. There even have been times when he has asked to guard the opponent most likely to take a big shot.

* David Wesley has emerged as a defensive stopper. At 6-1,203, Wesley uses his strength to control opposing point guards. He helped hold Wizards All-Star Gilbert Arenas to 3-of-14 shooting in a Rockets' 30-point victory last week.

* Wesley and Barry, both early-season acquisitions, have supplied enough outside shooting--each has made better than 40 percent of his 3-pointers since joining the Rockets--to open up the floor for McGrady. Barry is one of several veteran reserves who bring energy and a specialty. Scott Padgett shoots 3s, Ryan Bowen hustles, and Mutombo still plays defense. (But Rod Strickland? Don't ask us.)

* Bob Sura, sidelined the first month, has taken over the point on offense and picked up where he left off last season with the Hawks, when he was flirting with triple doubles on a regular basis. Sura is second on the team in assists and is tied for second in rebounding.

* Coach Jeff Van Gundy actually has dialed back his (over) control of the offense. During a recent victory, one scout turned to another and said, "Can you believe this? He's hardly calling any plays." After averaging 86.8 points while going 6-10 in November, the Rockets averaged 104.6 in the eight-game winning streak.

For everyone easily sucked in by the NBA hype machine, you probably figure there has been a huge omission to this list of Rockets riches. You know who we're talking about--the starting center for the West All-Stars. The foe regarded as Shaquille O'Neal's biggest rival outside of L.A. That good-humored guest star on The Simpsons. Yes, we're talking about Yao Ming, the 7-6, 315-pound center from China.

But--doh!--there is a slight problem. Yao's impact on the Rockets' recent run--on their entire season, in fact--has been more like his backup Mutombo's than McGrady's. Yao is shooting and scoring well enough, but McGrady has taken over. This isn't what was envisioned when Yao was picked first in the 2002 draft. He was widely considered the next big man who would take over the game, a behemoth who could score, rebound and block shots. Well, it's season No. 3, and the gap between Yao and Shaq remains about as wide as the distance between Shanghai and Miami.

A case can be made that the Rockets' season took off after they shifted their offense toward the perimeter. McGrady began the season trying to fit in and worried too much about getting the ball to Yao. McGrady averaged 16.9 field-goal attempts in November to Yao's 13.0. In January, McGrady averaged 23.3 shots per game; Yao was at 11.8.

Yao's field-goal accuracy has improved--he ranks among the league leaders at 54.5 percent--and he has upped his scoring average a point over last season to 18.5, but no other part of his game stands out, much less dominates. His mediocrity is seen in a variety of ways:

* His rebounding--his 8.5 boards per game rank 21st in the league--and blocked shots (1.8 per game) are down from last season, and his turnovers and fouls are up. "He doesn't go get the ball well outside of his area," says a Western Conference advance scout, "but not many guys that tall have been able to."

* For a willing passer, Yao doesn't get many assists. He is averaging less than one per game and earlier this season went six games with nary a one. "He has to get better passing out of the double-team," says the scout. "He too often brings the ball down and is stripped."

* There's the frequent sight of an opponent dunking in Yao's grill, a feat performed this season by such nonhousehold names as Nenad Krstic, Chris Mihm and Josh Childress.