 Tony Parker scored half of his 14 points in the fourth quarter. D. Clarke Evans/NBAE/Getty Images 56k | 300k |
Behind 23 second-half points from Steve Francis, the Rockets trimmed the deficit to 85-82 with 56 seconds to go as Moochie Norris nailed a 3-pointer. But Parker made all four of his free throws and Porter hit 1-of-2 with 1.6 seconds left to give the Spurs an insurmountable four-point lead.
"We did a great job defensively for the first three quarters, then we parked it," Spurs coach Gregg Popovich said. "We lost our intensity and it's tough to get it back when that happens. It's not the first time it's happened, and it won't be the last. That's why it's called a game. I'm just glad to get the win."
Tim Duncan was held without a double-double for the first time this season but collected 19 points and nine rebounds for San Antonio (6-2), which improved to 4-0 at home. Parker added 14 points and Steve Smith contributed 13 on 6-of-10 shooting.
"We had a great first half, but we came out in the third and gave up 27 points, and that's not real good," Duncan said. "We've fought it all the way through and they made a heck of a run at it. But we were able to hold on."
Francis finished with 32 points and nine rebounds while Kevin Willis had 17 and 10 for Houston, which never led. Kenny Thomas chipped in 14 and nine.
"That was a big deficit to come back from, but we almost made it," Francis said. "It's not like we've never done that before. We just made some ill-advised decisions in the last few minutes. Myself, I made some poor decisions shooting-wise down the stretch. But we showed a lot of character in the second half. There is a lot of fight in us."
In the Rockets' abysmal first half, they shot under 26 percent (9-of-35) and had just one assist. The nine-point second quarter was the lowest-scoring in team history.
Houston's poor first-half play helped the Spurs set some of their own club marks. San Antonio set records for fewest points allowed in the second quarter and first half as well as the fewest assists given up in a half.
But Francis rallied Houston, which wound up shooting slightly better than San Antonio at 41 percent (31-of-75).
"I'm proud of the way we hung in there," Rockets coach Rudy Tomjanovich said. "The first half was like hitting rock bottom, then we just clicked."
Houston has lost consecutive games for the first time this season. The defeat was its eighth straight at San Antonio and their 16th in the past 17 meetings with the Spurs.
"(Shooting) 9-for-35 in the first half, you can't do anything with that," Thomas said. "You can't expect much good to happen for you in the best league in the world. We put ourselves in a position where we needed to perform a miracle in the second half, and we almost pulled it off."
Houston played without guard Cuttino Mobley, who sprained his left ankle in practice Monday.