Game 79: San Antonio Spurs Vs. Houston Rockets Preview

I’m so disgusted I don’t even want to talk about it.

Yes, you know what I’m talking about.

I’m talking about Wednesday’s night’s 110-98 debacle the Houston Rockets had against the San Antonio Spurs.

Although they were making impressive strides in the 1st half, the 2nd half made my jaw drop in terms of how the Rockets were powerless against their long-time divisional foe.

If the Rockets continue to look like this against the Spurs, it will be an abbreviated series and they’ll be packing their bags early.

This team must do everything they can to ensure they have a defensive plan for the Spurs, the hottest team in the NBA.

I do like the fact that these two games this week are like a mini-playoff dress rehearsal to help this team fine-tune and make the adjustments needed to come out the ultimate victor.

With what I saw Wednesday night, the Rockets have a lot a work to do but it’s not impossible.

We’re just unfortunate that we’re catching the Spurs toward the very end of the season when they’ve historically played their best basketball.

Regardless, there’s a game plan that needs to be executed and it’s up to Kevin McHale and his staff to outline it and the Rockets to execute it.

For the Spurs, Kawhi Leonard leads the team in scoring (16.5 PPG) and steals (2.30 SPG) while Tim Duncan leads in rebounds (9.1 RPG) and blocks (2.00). Tony Parker is man in charge of doling out the dimes at 4.9 APG.

But let’s talk about what the Spurs do well.

They are the ultimate defensive stoppers. The Spurs are 2nd in the NBA only to the Golden State Warriors in defensive efficiency holding opponents to 99.4 points per 100 possessions. In contrast, the Rockets are 7th at 100.6 per.

They’re exceptional in finding the open man. The Spurs have the league’s 4th-highest assist ratio with 18.5 percent of their possessions ending with an assist.

As far as Rockets injuries, Donatas Motiejunas had back surgery (lumbar microdiscectomy) yesterday to help with his soreness ruling him out for the season and the playoffs. He’s expected to make a full recovery.

Other than that, all other Rockets players are available to suit up.

Kostas Papanikolaou finally made his return from an ankle injury with five minutes of action during garbage time late in the game Wednesday against the Spurs. He had two rebounds and one turnover.

The Spurs’ Tiago Splitter has been ruled out tonight tending to a tight right calf. He has been out since April 3 with the injury.

The match up that you must pay attention most to is how the Rockets are going to defend Parker.

Jason Terry and Pablo Prigioni were nearly invisible to him as he was able to get anything he wanted, when he wanted. And if his shots weren’t falling (which was few and far in-between), he got his teammates involved which is what a point guard does.

Parker had 27 points Wednesday against the Rockets along with four assists.

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They have to do a better job defending him and I’d like see Nick Johnson have a shot against him as well, although Johnson is not known for being a defensive specialist, he should have a shot to see if he can do a better job than what I’ve seen.

Trevor Ariza will continue to try to contain Leonard who had 20 points and four steals Wednesday as well. Leonard has averaged 20.4 PPG and 3.8 RPG in the last five games.

Duncan and Aron Baynes owned the glass Wednesday against the Rockets — they both combined for 22 rebounds as the Rockets didn’t have a clue on how to stop this surprisingly destructive duo of terror in the paint.

If Dwight Howard were playing a bit more minutes, I’d say they’d been able to contain them better but we must limit those minutes so that he’s fresh for the playoffs.

So it’s up to Terrence Jones, Josh Smith, Joey Dorsey and Clint Capela to try to contain these guys.

Dorsey has to step it up, there’s no if’s, and’s or but’s about it. He needs to crash the boards and play stifling defense to contribute his share.

I don’t want to ever see another cringing Baynes’ one-hander on him or on anybody else ever again!

That dunk he had was an indicator of how badly the Rockets were defending — which was quite non-existent.

The Rockets can beat the Spurs but if they come out flat like they did in the 2nd half Wednesday, they might as well mail it in and head for the showers.

Three Things to Watch:

1. Parker vs. Jet/Prigioni/Johnson?

2. Leonard vs. Ariza

3. How well our bigs can contain Duncan/Baynes

Prediction:

104-100 in a Rockets’ win!

The Rockets take on the Spurs tonight at Toyota Center.

Tip-off is scheduled for 7 p.m. CDT.

The game will be televised on ROOT Sports Southwest/NBA TV and broadcast on SportsTalk 790 AM (KBME).

Go Rockets!

Next: Donatas Motiejunas: A Bigger Loss Than You May Think

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