Spurs’ Defense Grounds Rockets

By Travis Atkinson

 

Following Monday’s blowout loss to the Golden State Warriors, the San Antonio Spurs responded Wednesday night with a lopsided 120-99 victory over the instate rival Houston Rockets.

 

Wednesday night’s game was closely contested in its early stages. Both teams got off to hot starts in the first quarter, where they each shot over 50% from the field. Houston soon cooled off though, and after a series of layups from Spurs reserve-guard Patty Mills early in the second quarter, San Antonio began to pull away with this one.

 

The Spurs would go on to outscore the Rockets 34-20 in the period and were up by 20 going into the half. It wasn’t much of a game after that point. The contest might have been more competitive had it not been for the Rockets terrible free throw shooting. On a night where Dwight Howard was seven of eight from the free-throw line; Houston managed to shoot just 67% (35-52) from the stripe, leaving 17 points off the board in a 31-point loss.

 

LaMarcus Aldridge led the way for San Antonio with 25 points, 10 rebounds, and 5 assists in just 30 minutes of action. Aldridge’s performance comes after he received heavy criticism for his poor showing in Monday’s loss to Golden State. After being held to 2-9 shooting by Golden State, Aldridge went 9-13 from the field and 7-7 from the free-throw line. Aldridge headlined an exceptional all around effort from San Antonio.

 

The Spurs number-one ranked defense forced the Rockets to shoot just 38% (28-73) from the field and only 26% (8-30) from behind the arc. Houston, as is their custom, failed to move the ball effectively, handing out only 14 assists and resorting to mostly isolation basketball with James Harden. Harden had a Rockets’ team-high 20 points (5-10 FG, 9-9 FT) and 5 turnovers in 27 minutes.

 

San Antonio, on the other hand, had excellent ball movement, resulting in good looks at the basket and 34 assists on 55% (50-90) shooting from the field. The Spurs also lit it up from 3-point land, shooting 52% (12-23) as a team. A large chunk of this came from Kawhi Leonard and Danny Green, who combined went 9-13 from range. The Spurs had five players score in double digits, including Boban Marjanovic.

 

In 17 minutes of action, the rookie out of Serbia had, 13 points (5-9 FG, 3-4 FT) and 10 rebounds. Boban has quickly become a fan favorite in San Antonio, where fans have created a reddit page dedicated to the 7-foot-3 center, holding things.

 

San Antonio’s win extends their franchise record start to 39-7, and they become just the fifth team in NBA history to start a season 25-0 at home. The Spurs remain in second place in both the NBA and Western Conference standings, while Houston dropped to 25-23, seventh in the Western Conference.

 

The teams will play each other again February 27 in the finale of a four-game, season series. San Antonio leads the series 2-1. The Spurs have two days off before traveling to Cleveland Saturday to take on Lebron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers.  Houston plays again Friday in Oklahoma City.