Game 35: Houston Rockets At San Antonio Spurs Preview

Happy New Year Houston Rockets fans!

Yes, it’s time for the Rockets to take on their first opponent for 2016 and that would be the San Antonio Spurs.

It was an exciting, gritty match up the last time these two teams faced each other back Christmas night.

The Rockets were amazingly able to eke out a nice 88-84 win over the Spurs in, by far, their best defensive performance of the season.

But the Rockets have meandered their way back into the horrible tendencies to lapse in their intensity as far as their defense so I hope they’ll turn it around tonight.

We certainly saw that in Thursday night’s New Year’s Eve match up against the Golden State Warriors where playing defense was an option for guys like the Beard.

But as always, this will be a fun match up for both teams as they spar off with one another — this time on the Spurs’ turf.

So who’s leading the charge for the Spurs?

Kawhi Leonard is the team’s leading scorer (20.8 PPG) and chief of steals (2.00 SPG). LaMarcus Aldridge is the top board-getter (8.8 RPG), Tony Parker is in charge of the dimes (5.1 APG) and Tim Duncan is still the team’s reigning shot-blocker (1.40 BPG).

Let’s talk about what the Spurs do well.

There’s a lot that this team does well and that’s why they’ll continue to be favorites for the NBA Championship this year.

But what do they do?

They’re extremely well-balanced. The Spurs are the No. 1 team in the NBA as far as defensive efficiency, allowing a stingy 92.5 points per 100 possessions. The No. 2 team, the Boston Celtics is at 97.8 per 100, over a full five points less. They’re also 3rd in the league as far as offensive efficiency, scoring 106.8 points per 100 possessions. Nobody seems to do it better than the Spurs which should be no surprise.

They’re excellent at moving the ball around. The Spurs are 2nd in the league as far as assist ratio with an incredible 19.3 percent of their possessions ending with an assist.

Injuries:

Sam Dekker had back surgery and is expected to miss about a couple more months.

There are no injuries to report for the San Antonio Spurs.

Sources: Jenny Dial Creech/Jonathan Feigen of the Houston Chronicle

Next: 2015's Best Houston Sporting Moments

Three Things to Watch:

Trevor Ariza Vs. Kawhi Leonard
Patrick Beverley vs. Tony Parker
Clint Capela vs. LaMarcus Aldridge
(Bonus) Dwight Howard vs. Tim Duncan

Prediction:

110-102 in a Rockets’ loss.

The Rockets hit the road to take on the Spurs at AT&T Center.

Tip-off is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. CST.

The game will be televised on ROOT Sports Southwest/NBA TV and broadcast on SportsTalk 790 AM (KBME) and La Ranchera 850 AM (KEYH) in Spanish.

Go Rockets!

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