BEIJING, April 21 -- The Houston Rockets wrapped up their losing season after they were beaten 89-87 by the San Antonio Spurs on Wednesday night.

    It was their third losing season since 1984. They won only 15 games at the Toyota Center, matching the NBA¡¯s worst home record and are headed to the draft lottery for the fifth time in seven seasons.

    ¡°It was nothing that other teams did to us,¡± point guard Rafer Alston said. ¡°It was a lot of what we did to ourselves.¡±

    The finale exposed most of the weaknesses the Rockets had all season ¡ª they went 3-for-14 from 3-point range, gave up 12 3-pointers by the Spurs and committed 18 turnovers.

    ¡°The things we need to improve on are glaring,¡± Houston coach Jeff Van Gundy said. ¡°We are where we deserve to be.¡±

    The short-handed Spurs gave Houston a chance to end its season with an unlikely upset.

    The Spurs led 88-83 after Sean Marks¡¯ three-point play with 1:18 to go.

    Stromile Swift, who led Houston with 18 points, lost the ball on the Rockets¡¯ next possession, but then hit a mid-range jumper to cut the deficit to three. Luther Head added two free throws to pull Houston within one.

    Chuck Hayes then tipped Fabricio Uberto¡¯s inbound pass and Alston was fouled at the other end. But Alston missed both free throw attempts with 7.5 seconds left.

    Beno Udrih hit two free throws and Swift clanged a last-second turnaround jumper off the front of the rim.

    Barry said the final sequence was valuable for the Spurs¡¯ reserves.

    ¡°It¡¯s a great opportunity for some of us to be in that situation, where it¡¯s a close game and you have to execute and find a way down the stretch,¡± said Barry.

    Before the game, Tracy McGrady, who missed the last 20 games and 34 in all with back problems, trotted onto the floor with his team, dressed in street clothes.

    In all, 14 Rockets missed a total of 274 games due to illnesses or injuries. Center Yao Ming broke his left foot in a match against Utah on April 10 and missed the next four games.

    From the start of the season, Van Gundy has refused to use their health issues as excuses. He said one more time that the Rockets¡¯ problems went beyond them.

    ¡°We didn¡¯t play well and we didn¡¯t have the personality on our team of mental or physical toughness,¡± said Van Gundy, who had his first losing season in 10 as an NBA head coach. He wouldn¡¯t speculate on what roster moves might occur in the off season ¡ª but implied there would be some.