By JOSEPH WHITE
AP Sports Writer

WASHINGTON(AP) -- For the Houston Rockets, who need as many hands
on deck as possible to get out of the win-lose blahs, it was
good enough simply to see Trevor Ariza and Kyle Lowry back on
the court.

Ariza returned after missing seven games with a left hip injury,
and Lowry was back after sitting out 12 games with a sprained
left ankle. Neither was spectacular, but both shook off the rust
as the yo-yo Rockets moved back above .500 Tuesday night with a
96-88 win over the Washington Wizards.

"It's good to be at full strength," said Ariza, who played 28
minutes off the bench, made 3 of 7 3-pointers and finished with
13 points. "Now we've got to get in sync, back to our roles and
understand what we're trying to do."

Luis Scola had 23 points and 10 rebounds, and Kevin Martin
scored 21 points for the Rockets, who took the lead for good
midway through the second quarter and were hardly threatened in
the second half by the Wizards, who have lost four straight and
six of seven and drew a season-low 10,422 to the Verizon Center.

"I couldn't make a shot, but we won a game - who cares?" said
Lowry, who went 1 for 6 from the field and finished with six
points in 19 minutes. "I stepped wrong a few times and I'm a
little sore, but other than that I'm fine."

The Rockets entered the game as the consummate .500 team:
alternating wins and losses over their last seven, scoring and
allowing the same amount of points - 101.3 - on the season. Time
is running out to put together the type of winning streak needed
to snatch a Western Conference playoff berth.

"You just have to keep going for it, hope you do get that streak
that can send you in the other direction," coach Rick Adelman
said. "We've just kind of been in 'hit and miss' over the last
three weeks."

A good place to start is the Wizards, who are still sporting a
who-are-these-guys look after the suspension of Gilbert Arenas
and the house-cleaning deals just before the trade deadline.
Andray Blatche, who has become the go-to player by default, had
18 points and eight rebounds but also five turnovers and sat out
the final 4 1/2 minutes in his first game after learning the
pitfalls of trash-talking Kevin Garnett.

Wizards coach Flip Saunders said his team "choked" when they
blew a 13-point fourth-quarter lead in a loss to the Boston
Celtics on Sunday, blaming it mainly on Blatche's unwise
decision to start mouthing off to Garnett, inspiring a Celtics
rally.

This time, Saunders kept Blatche on the bench when Washington
made a late run to cut the lead to six in the final two minutes.

"Dray struggled - a lot," Saunders said. "He wants to the carry
the team, so he got into a situation where he tried to do almost
a little bit too much. We took him out, we were down big, those
guys came back. You reward the guys that got you there. ... His
biggest thing is he's become a high-turnover player."

Blatche said it was his worst game "by far" since he gained a
more prominent role in the second half of the season.

"I kept trying to fight harder and harder," Blatche said, "and
just made it worse and worse for me."

Nick Young added 18 points for the Wizards, and Al Thornton had
15.

Washington's best spurt came on a 10-0 run in the first quarter,
but the Rockets were in charge the rest of the way, closing the
first half with an 11-4 run to go ahead 48-40 and pushing the
lead to 18 in the third quarter on rookie Jordan Hill's dunk.
Hill finished with 11 points, one shy of his career high, and
matched his career high with eight rebounds.

Notes: Ariza didn't start for the first time this season. Asked
if he'd be OK with that, he said: "If we're winning, I don't
mind, but that's not up to me." ... Notable stat: Rockets
dominated 24-8 in second-chance points. ... More evidence of the
Rockets' up-and-down ways: They are 22-9 in games following a
loss this season. ... The Wizards signed Livingston to a second
10-day contract. ... After a day off Wednesday, the Wizards will
play three straight days as they squeeze in the makeup game from
the blizzard that hit Washington last month. "We're going total
AAU basketball after this," Saunders said. "Games every day."
... The last-place Wizards are so anxious to fill seats that
that the dance girls wore tops urging fans to renew their season
tickets.