The Rockets worked the phones, made their pitches, even resisted temptation. But when the deals were done and the roster transformed, they did not celebrate, not the way they would have had they known how those seven days in December would change everything.

Like holiday shoppers, they were buyers facing a deadline, and with plenty of competition for the must-have prizes of the season.

When their shopping was done, they had landed guard-forward Corey Brewer, backed away from their pursuit of guard Rajon Rondo and added forward Josh Smith, decisions that would have far greater impact on their run into the second round of the playoffs than they could have imagined.

"If we don't have Brew and Josh come to our team, we're not here right now, doing this," coach Kevin McHale said. "Those two guys have been fantastic for us."

Those moves seven days apart - with the team announcing the contract extension for McHale in between - have been essential.

Before adding Smith and Brewer, the bench had averaged just 21.5 points per game. Since they became the anchors of the second unit, the bench averaged 33.7 points through the rest of the season. In the playoffs, they have moved into starring roles, with Smith averaging 17.4 points, 6.4 rebounds and 3.8 assists; Brewer is averaging 14.4 points.

Rockets vs. Clippers Game 1 - Monday, May 4: Clippers at Rockets - 8:30 p.m. (TNT)

Game 2 - Wednesday, May 6: Clippers at Rockets - 8:30 p.m. (TNT)

Game 3 - Friday, May 8: Rockets at Clippers- 9:30 p.m. (ESPN)

Game 4 - Sunday, May 10: Rockets at Clippers - 7:30 p.m. (TNT)

Game 5* - Tuesday, May 12: TBD at Rockets - Time TBD (TNT)

Game 6* - Thursday, May 14: Rockets at Clippers - Time TBD (ESPN)

Game 7* - Sunday, May 17: TBD at Rockets - Time TBD (TV TBD)

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Even those numbers might not indicate how essential they have been, with Dwight Howard missing 41 games and Terrence Jones missing 49 during the regular season, and Donatas Motiejunas out for the postseason.

But the moves had their roots long before either deal was complete.

To the Rockets, Dec. 19 was a de facto trade deadline because players acquired after that date cannot be dealt again.

That brought the usual time crunch to the talks, but the Rockets had been trying to get Brewer, 6-9, since the summer. When the Timberwolves were struggling, they upped their offer.

"We were looking to trade for Corey before the season," Rockets general manager Daryl Morey said. "We had talked to the Timberwolves about it. They were pretty cool to the idea. Even if they were potentially interested, they wanted to wait until they saw how the season was going. When they took injuries and their season wasn't going as well as they hoped, we thought that would open up an opportunity, but frankly, they loved Corey. They didn't want to move him. It took a good while."

While talking with Timberwolves president and coach Flip Saunders, the Rockets also were in talks with Celtics general manager Danny Ainge about Rondo.

Unsure of Rondo

The Rockets were not convinced Rondo would be an ideal fit, with concerns about taking the ball out of James Harden's hands and whether Rondo would recapture the level of defense he had played before his knee injury. The Rockets made an offer and made sure they could complete the deal for Brewer but refused to add the Pelicans' first-round pick to the deal.

"Similar to Dallas, we felt he's a talented, talented guy," Morey said. "We do feel like in our environment, like they feel in theirs, we can add guys that are very good players like him (Rondo) and make it work. It's (unpredictable) to know how it would have worked out here. We did feel like he could help us under the right conditions.

"We decided what ways we could acquire him that would have been beneficial to us. Boston preferred the Dallas situation."

As the week moved toward the Rockets' Dec. 19 deadline, Dallas moved in position to get Rondo, and the Rockets knew it. The Rockets had concerns about Rondo but believed the Mavericks were making a good move for them, potentially making it more difficult not to up the ante.

"It was tough when you know a division rival is going to end up with a piece that can help them," Rockets vice president Gersson Rosas said. "But we had evaluated internally. We knew what we were willing to do. And it was December. There were two, three months before the trade deadline. We knew how much our assets were valued. We were willing to pay a price we were comfortable with. If not, we had the flexibility to do other things.

Long-term plans

"I think that discipline is critical for us and it played out a lot for us, not only in December but last (summer), like do you match certain contracts in free agency."

By Dec. 18, the Rockets knew Rondo would be heading to Dallas and focused their attention on completing the trade for Brewer, 29.

"He's a guy we were after a long time," Rosas said. "You hear that all the time, but for our system, how we want to play, there's not many guys more effective than him. A lot of the risk was mitigated because Mac (McHale) drafted that guy. He had him in Minnesota. He knew he would fit in our locker room and with how we wanted to play."

On Dec. 19, McHale's birthday, the Rockets used the trade exception they picked up in the Jeremy Lin trade to acquire Brewer and Alexey Shved for Troy Daniels, the draft rights to Serhiy Lishchuk and a second-round pick.

Days later, Morey was on the phone again, this time on the receiving end.

"I was in Florida on a mini-vacation," Morey said. "I got calls from Dwight and James because the news had hit that Josh was being released.

"I calmed both of them down. I said, 'Yeah, he would be a great addition. We would definitely be interested. He's a guy we always wanted.' I told both Dwight and James this, but I said, 'Look, I'm not going to believe it until I see his name on an official waiver.' I've just never seen it before. I had to calm them both down that it was actually going to happen because I didn't think it was."

Pistons release Smith

On Dec. 23, not quite two months into Smith's second season of a four-year, $56 million contract, the Pistons released him. The Rockets wanted him but again would have to compete with Dallas.

"When there was a press release from Detroit, it was, 'OK, this is happening,' " Morey said. "Then we had to wait until he was actually released to start engaging. Dwight, James, coach McHale and myself, (assistant coach) J.B. Bickerstaff - that was a really good group effort. He was very close to choosing Dallas. He's extremely good friends with Rondo who had gone there."

Howard and Harden called. McHale explained how he thought Smith, 6-9, could be used. By Christmas Eve, Morey was in Detroit, making his pitch.

"Dwight and James were very positive about his ability to help the team," Morey said. "Coach McHale and I agreed. This was a rapid-response thing, not a plan. That's why we always caution the owner and everybody.

"I thought we had a good chance because we saved our biannual (exception). We thought that gave us a leg up on a lot of teams. We generally save our biannual. It often doesn't work because the year before, we were saving it for a couple guys. It went unspent. We saved it again this year for someone that might get released. That gave us a leg up money-wise versus every team he was considering. Plus, he loves Houston. We thought we had a good shot."

Competing pressure

But Rondo was putting on a hard sell. Smith wanted to decide quickly but was struggling.

"It was a whirlwind, a lot of calls being made," Smith, 29, said. "I looked at my options. I looked at this team from top to bottom. It was the most attractive. I felt it was the best opportunity for me to try to win a championship this year.

"It was close. My friend Rondo called me. It was a lot of pressure. I wanted to play with both of those guys. It wouldn't happen because he was with Dallas and Dwight was with Houston. But I prayed on it, and I feel like I made the right decision."

As with Brewer, the work done years before helped make the acquisition for Smith happen.

"We did try to acquire Josh when we got Dwight," Morey said of the 2013 free-agency period. "We thought they could be a good fit. We always admired his game on defense. We just felt it would work. We have a lot of confidence in coach McHale and his ability to take good players, even if the fit in the past or on paper isn't perfect, and make it work. He's got a lot of strengths. That one may be his best."

McHale's extension

While the Rockets waited for Smith to choose, they announced McHale had agreed to a three-year contract extension. The moves were not related. Rockets owner Leslie Alexander had initiated talks two weeks before Smith was released. But hours after the Rockets announced the extension on Dec. 24., Smith's agents told them he had chosen the Rockets. The deal became official Dec. 26.

The Rockets' offseason decisions paid off. Had they matched Chandler Parsons' offer sheet and made the move for Jason Terry, they would have been far enough over the luxury tax that they would have lost the exception they used to get Smith and the trade exception they used for Brewer, or they would have had to pass on using their mid-level exception to sign forward Kostas Papanikolaou.

"Obviously, people were a little critical of our offseason," Morey said. "I told Dwight and James, 'be patient.' They were. They had a lot of faith in our ability to upgrade the team. I said, 'We have the exception. We have ways to upgrade the team. But if we force it now, it's going to be tough.' "

Instead, they kept their exceptions and rebuilt their bench - and maybe their season.

Always a gamble

"You never know at the time how things are going to work out or not work out," Morey said. "It really was a very important time. We knew that time would be important, but we actually thought it would maybe set up more improvements in February. February ended up less important than December this year.

"You never know. You just work hard and pounce on the good opportunities that come. They came in December."