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The Rockets walked off the court and into the All-Star break with concerns about their play.

• Games left: • Home 12, road 13.

• Opponents with .500 or better records: 5 home, 10 road.

• Back-to-backs: 4.

• Comment: First must decide who will be on the team after the trade deadline.

• Games left: Home 14, road 11.

• Opponents with .500 or better records: 7 home, 9 road.

• Back-to-backs: 4.

• Comment: Road schedule, Rudy Gay injury will make first playoff berth since '06 tough.

• Games left: Home 11, road 14.

• Opponents with .500 or better records: 7 home, 8 road.

• Back-to-backs: 4.

• Comment: If post-Jerry Sloan era begins in lottery, would more changes follow?

• Games left: • Home 12, road 16.

• Opponents with .500 or better records: 7 home, 8 road.

• Back-to-backs: 5.

• Comment: Will post-break play of Suns determine future of Steve Nash era in the desert?

• Games left: Home 11, road 16.

• Opponents with .500 or better records: 7 home, 9 road.

• Back-to-backs: 6.

• Comment: Long way to go with toughest schedule after the break to get there.

• Games left: Home 13, road 12.

• Opponents with .500 or better records: 7 home, 5 road.

• Back-to-backs: 6.

• Comment: Rockets have workable schedule but, as always, the most back-to-backs.

The cold, hard facts offer dour reports, but they are not what trouble the Rockets most.

The Rockets limped into the All-Star break five games shy of .500 and five games off the playoff pace, having dropped to 12th in the Western Conference standings.

Yet the record and positioning are not as great a concern as their level of play as they face the steep climb toward their playoff goal with just 25 games to make up for their many pre-break missteps.

“I don’t feel we’re OK,” Shane Battier said. “Obviously, you look back at the first half and the games you let get away, the ones you kick yourself over. But it could be worse. It could always be better, but it can always been worse.

“It’s out there. It’s viable. It will take a lot of hard work. But any playoff run takes a lot of hard work.”

For the Rockets, that work will begin with seven of nine games on the road, starting with a back-to-back at Detroit and Cleveland. For general manager Daryl Morey, it has already begun, with trade talks under way and expected to pick up through the All- Star Weekend in Los Angeles.

Morey’s goals, however, are not to simply prop up the Rockets’ fragile playoff hopes.

Asked how the Rockets’ struggles might influence his decisions in the week remaining before the deadline, Morey paused, considered his options and finally said, “Not at all.

“We planned to be a playoff team all year. We’re in the mix. Unfortunately right now, there’s a lot of teams in the mix. Some teams have a leg up on us right now, but I think we can play well. We do have a favorable schedule that puts us right there.

“But our trade deadline moves have to be about getting us closer to where we want to be in the big picture, versus in the short run. It doesn’t mean we won’t do moves that would improve us in the short run, but I think the big picture is priority one.”

Morey said “absolutely” nothing has changed in his willingness to take on contracts if teams are looking for cost-cutting moves, an option that could take advantage of some of the expiring contracts of Yao Ming, Aaron Brooks, Chuck Hayes, Jared Jeffries, Ish Smith and Battier.

“It will be very interesting to see how things shake out,” Battier said. “I wouldn’t be surprised if a player or a number of players have played their last game in a Rockets uniform in Toyota Center.”

The Rockets believe that those that remain can still make a playoff push.

“We’re still there,” Luis Scola said. “We just need to focus on winning games, getting back to .500 and go from there. I always say we can’t control what the other teams do. If the other teams go to the playoffs with 50 wins, there is a very good chance we won’t make it. But we don’t know what is going to happen.

“We can’t change the games we already played. We definitely need a good stretch, like a good streak of five or six games. But it won’t work if we win five and get a losing streak right after. We not only need a good winning streak, but we need to be solid after.”

Time, however, is running out, with the break falling later this season. The Rockets were 27-24 at the break last season, but went just 15-16 the rest of the way to fall well short of the post-season. It might not take as strong an overall record this season to get in, but the Rockets would have to go 19-6 to reach 45 wins, 16-9 to reach last season’s 42-40 mark.

Their schedule is not as tough as it has been through much of the season, though it is still crowded with back-to-backs. The challenge, however, remains winning more consistently than they have all season.

“We have a chance to do some things after the break,” guard Kyle Lowry said. “Twenty-five games left, we have to do some good things.

“We’re in position, but we have … games we need to win after the break to make that kind of push.”