Record: 52-28.

Monday: New Orleans at Toyota Center, 7:30 p.m.

TV/radio: FSH; 610 AM and 850 AM (Spanish).

STAY CURRENT: Get Jonathan Feigen's take on the Rockets' latest victory, their 52nd of the year, at blogs.chron.com/NBA

OAKLAND, Calif. - Dikembe Mutombo had to do more than step in for Yao Ming the player. The game needed Mutombo to replace the attraction.

With so much else missing from a Golden State Warriors season gone wrong, the dying days of April at least offered the Bay Area one more visit from Yao.

Then he was gone, too, out for the night with a sore right foot.

Mutombo, however, stepped into that gaping void, offering a reminder of a sensational career nearly over with a shot-blocking, finger-wagging night that helped key the Rockets' 113-109 victory over the Warriors on Friday that kept them a half-game ahead of San Antonio and Portland, both winners on Friday, in the Western Conference standings.

While Mutombo took care of the boards and gave the Golden State fans (and a few of the Warriors) something to shout about, Luis Scola took care of the scoring, getting a career-high 28 points on 10-of-15 shooting.

Mutombo had 10 points to go with his 15 rebounds, more than in any game since March 2, 2002, when he had 22 against Denver, and four blocked shots.

The Warriors still stayed in the game until the final minute despite coach Don Nelson having to play his second team since Jamal Crawford, Monta Ellis, Corey Maggette, Stephen Jackson, Marco Bellineli and Brandan Wright are all out with injuries.

The Rockets let a 14-point third-quarter lead slip to five, and a 14-point fourth-quarter lead shrink to six, bogging down offensively through a six-minute stretch. By the end of that 14-6 Warriors run, Ron Artest ran over C.J. Watson on one end, then plowed into Kelenna Azubuike on the other, fouling out with 3:16 left and the Rockets lead down to 102-96.

Ronny Turiaf, however, missed a jumper, and Aaron Brooks stopped the Rockets offensive bleeding by sinking a runner through a Watson foul for a three-point play with 2:45 remaining, pushing the lead back to nine.

A minute later, Azubuike put in a 3-pointer, but Shane Battier hit a fadeaway at the shot clock buzzer that the Rockets had to have.

Turiaf finally got the slam over Mutombo, and after a Brooks turnover, Anthony Morrow cut the lead to four with 34 seconds left. But Scola put in two free throws with 13.4 seconds remaining to give the Rockets a six-point lead.

Still, the Warriors kept giving themselves chances. Morrow put in a 3-pointer with 6.4 seconds left to keep Golden State in the game, before Brooks made both free throws on the other end. Azubuike sank another 3, this time with 3.4 seconds left to give him 32 points, before Brooks again hit two free throws with 2.5 seconds left.

The Rockets, however, had seemed to help Golden State stay in the game all night.

The Rockets' poor defense in the first half had helped the Warriors stay close, much as it had made things much tougher than necessary for a half the night before in Sacramento.

The Rockets once again began to pull away in the third quarter, but the turnaround was not as sudden or nearly as thorough. This time, they slowly built a 14-point lead with an improved defense.

Midway through the quarter, the Rockets appeared to be on their way to the same sort of rout. Mutombo hit three free throws and Shane Battier and Artest sank 3s, taking the Rockets on a 9-2 run to an 80-66 lead.

The Warriors, however, answered with a 9-2, 80-second run, pulling to within five, and a pattern for the rest of the night looked set.

In the second quarter, it was the Rockets' defense that was to blame.

The Warriors' 36 second-quarter points matched the most in the quarter against the Rockets this season, as they hit 61.1 percent of their shots in the quarter. The Rockets connected on 68.2 percent, but that almost didn't matter. They were not stopping the Warriors enough to put them away.

In the second half, the offense often betrayed them.

They did, however, make a memorable night with plenty of vintage Mutombo.

jonathan.feigen@chron.com