Houston Rockets coach Rudy Tomjanovich won't be rejoining the Rockets during their five-game West Coast trip while he continues to recover from a bladder biopsy.

	The Rockets will have to hold off the Suns for the West's final playoff berth without Rudy Tomjanovich coaching them.

"It typically takes a few days to recover completely from the effects of the test procedure Rudy underwent on Monday,'' team physician Dr. James Muntz said Thursday. "We felt it would be in Rudy's best interest to remain in Houston and to allow him to slowly return to his typical work load.''

The team said Tuesday that Tomjanovich, 54, has a superficial bladder tumor that will be treated without surgery. Team physician Dr. James Muntz said the diagnosis was a "transition cell cancer of the bladder" that was found on the outside tissue of the organ. The procedure was performed Monday.

"He really wants to get back to the team," Rockets general manager Carroll Dawson told the Houston Chronicle in Thursday's editions. "Right now, he has to listen to the doctors. They're concerned with the stress, being this is a very stressful profession. Whether you're there or not, watching the game is tough."

The team said Tomjanovich will begin "medical treatments once a week, beginning in two weeks," but the nature of the treatments was not specified.

Tomjanovich checked into Methodist Hospital Monday to undergo tests as his team headed to Seattle for Tuesday night's game against the Sonics. Tomjanovich missed that game and Wednesday's at Portland, the first games he's missed in his 11-plus seasons as coach. Assistant Larry Smith is coaching the team in his absence.

"Rudy's treatment options are optimistic,'' Muntz said following a biopsy of the bladder lining Monday by Dr. Richard Goldfarb. Tomjanovich has been resting at home since his release from the hospital Monday.

Houston's five-game West Coast road swing ends Monday in Los Angeles against the Clippers.

Dawson told the Chronicle that Tomjanovich was much stronger Wednesday. Tomjanovich has received best wishes from scores of coaches and other officials throughout the league, passed along by Dawson.

"I've told him everyone -- GMs, coaches, agents," Dawson told the newspaper. "They ought to change the name of the show to 'Everybody Loves Rudy.' I can't even keep up with all of them.

"He was a little embarrassed. He hates stuff about himself. This is all about him right now. On top of all this, people from all over (Houston) have called, worrying about him, wishing him well ... It's really been uplifting."

After recovering from a bladder infection about a month ago, Tomjanovich said he went in for routine follow-up tests, the second of which turned up abnormal cells. He broke the news to his team after an 85-75 victory over Phoenix last Sunday that clinched a playoff tiebreaker with the Suns, who are vying with the Rockets for the final Western Conference playoff spot.

Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.