Rockets-Spurs Preview

By MATT BROWN
Posted Jan 11 2012 12:17AM

Nearly two weeks ago, the Houston Rockets dealt the San Antonio Spurs their most lopsided loss of the season.

The result might be different in San Antonio.

While the Spurs remain winless on the road, they own the NBA's best record at home, where they'll play their next three games starting Wednesday when they take on the cross-state rival Rockets.

The contrast between the Spurs' play at home and on the road could not be more stark. San Antonio (6-4) is a league-best 6-0 at the AT&T Center, where it's scoring 104.8 points per game and winning by an average margin of 14.1. The Spurs broke the 100-point barrier for the first time away from home Tuesday night at Milwaukee, but fell 106-103 as their road record sank to 0-4.

Tony Parker scored 22 points while Tim Duncan added 20 and rookie Kawhi Leonard had 19, but it wasn't enough for San Antonio. The Spurs are giving up an average of 110.3 points over their last three games while allowing opponents to shoot 53.1 percent from the floor.

"It's the worst defensive team we've ever had," coach Gregg Popovich said. "We have a long way to go."

The Spurs' first loss came in Houston on Dec. 29, when the Rockets jumped to a 53-35 halftime lead and cruised to a 105-85 victory. However, the Spurs have won the last three meetings between these teams in San Antonio.

The Rockets (3-6) arrive at the AT&T Center on a minor high after snapping a four-game skid with an 82-70 win at Charlotte on Tuesday. Houston prevailed despite turning the ball over 22 times and shooting 39 percent from the field.

"Sometimes in the NBA you've just got to win ugly," Rockets coach Kevin McHale said.

"Believe me that was ugly for both teams out there, but it was prettier for us and I was happy for our guys. They kept fighting. We've been preaching that you've got to win some ugly games."

Houston won ugly with a balanced effort. Rookie Chandler Parsons scored a team-high 20 points and Kevin Martin added 17, while Kyle Lowry had 11 rebounds and eight assists. Jordan Hill may have made the biggest impact of all, with 12 points and 12 rebounds in 18 minutes off the bench for his first double-double of the season.

"Jordan saved our bacon there for a while," McHale said of Hill, the starting center for the season's first seven games. "He played really well. We're still trying to find out rotations and try to find out what we're going to be doing. We're still working on all those things and trying to find out who is going to play and when they're going to play and who they're going to play with."

Tuesday's win was the first in six road games this season for Houston, which returns home this weekend for back-to-back games against Sacramento and Portland.

The Spurs host the Trail Blazers on Friday and Phoenix on Sunday.

San Antonio may be without guard T.J. Ford, who strained his left hamstring in the first quarter of the loss to the Bucks. Popovich said there is no timetable for Ford's return.

Parker helps Spurs beat Rockets in overtime

Posted Jan 12 2012 12:35AM

SAN ANTONIO (AP) Gregg Popovich hasn't often been thrilled with the Spurs' defense this season. A strong late effort against the Rockets, showed that things might be starting to change.

With Tim Duncan leading the way, San Antonio held Houston to 2-of-10 shooting in overtime in the Spurs' 101-95 victory Wednesday night.

Duncan had two steals and a block in overtime to help the Spurs improve to 7-0 at home. The last time the Spurs won seven straight at home to start the season was 2007-08 when they went 13-0.

Tony Parker scored 28 points on 12-of-22 shooting to lead the Spurs (7-4). He made four free throws late in overtime to help seal the victory.

"He's unbelievable," Duncan said. "I know he's going to be worn out tomorrow. He did just about everything for us. He continued to attack every time down the floor. He continued to call his number and he found a way to get things done. Whether it be finding open shooters or getting all the way to the rack, making jump shots in the lane; whatever it may be."

Duncan had 17 points and 11 rebounds, and Kawhi Leonard added 11 points.

Kyle Lowry scored 22 points for Houston (3-7), and Luis Scola had 20. Kevin Martin added 18, and Patrick Patterson had 10 points and seven rebounds.

"I'm still a big part of this team, and I want to be a leader of this team," Duncan said. "I want to be a leader on and off the floor. I want Pop and the rest of the guys to count on me to do that, and I'm ready to do that."

He proved that with 1:18 left in overtime, when his block on one end led to a fast break on the other - and Richard Jefferson's 3-pointer that gave the Spurs a lead they wouldn't lose the rest of the way.

"It gets tougher for everybody down the stretch," Rockets coach Kevin McHale said. "Everybody ties in a little bit more. The whistles get a little bit tighter. That's just the way it is."

The Spurs played without backup point guard T.J. Ford. He will be out four to six weeks because of a torn left hamstring. Ford was injured Tuesday night in a loss at Milwaukee. San Antonio is already without top scorer Manu Ginobili for several more weeks because of a fractured fifth metacarpal.

Gary Neal had moved into the starting lineup to take Ginobili's spot, but with Ford out, Neal returned to the bench to assume backup point guard duties. Leonard started for the Spurs.

It's a role he might not relinquish any time soon.

"It's huge for us to have a guy on the team that can do similar things to what Bruce (Bowen) did in the past," Popovich said about Leonard. "This young man's got a lot to learn, but as I've said a lot of times, he's very willing, he's very versatile, and I think he's got the ability to be one heck of a player - and he wants to be. We're excited about him."

The Spurs hit 41 of 96 shots, and Houston was 42 of 92. The Rockets hit only three of 21 3-pointers.

"That's just how the game goes," Martin said of his team's struggles after shooting 65 percent in the first quarter. "Percentages always catch up in this league, so that's just how it went. It wasn't in our favor."

NOTES: San Antonio recalled first-round pick Cory Joseph, a point guard the team selected in the first round of the June draft, from the Development League. The Spurs also added Malcolm Thomas, a 6-foot-9 rookie forward. Thomas, who teamed with Spurs rookie Leonard at San Diego State, had been playing for Los Angeles in the D-League. "He's an athletic young man who has a lot of energy, has some good skills, so we'll take a look at him," Popovich said. Neither rookie played against Houston. ... With a free throw with 4:54 in the game, Duncan moved past Larry Bird for 27th place on the scoring list. Duncan has 21,888 points. When told he hit a free throw to pass Bird, Duncan, who has had plenty of struggles at the line said, "I didn't want to pass him. Out of respect, I was missing them for him."

Notebook: Spurs 101, Rockets 95

By Tim Price, for NBA.com
Posted Thursday January 12, 2012 12:25AM

THE FACTS: Tony Parker scored 28 points for San Antonio and Tim Duncan passed Larry Bird on the NBA career scoring list as the Spurs defeated the Houston Rockets 101-95 in overtime Wednesday at AT&T Center. The Spurs (7-4) remain unbeaten in seven home games. Houston (3-7), losers of five of the last six, got 22 points from Kyle Lowry.

Duncan scored 17 and had 11 rebounds (five of them on offense), and he passed Bird for 27th place on the career scoring list (21,788 points). He passed Larry Legend by hitting a bank shot -- how appropriate -- over Luis Scola with 5:38 to go in regulation.

But Scola, who scored 20, got some measure of redemption by hitting a four-foot running hook over Duncan to tie the game with five seconds to go in the fourth and send it to extra time.

QUOTABLE: "Really? Wow. It's great. That's unbelievable. I didn't realize I was anywhere close to him. I'm still a big part of his team and I want to be a leader on and off the floor."
-- Tim Duncan on passing Larry Bird

THE STAT: The Rockets shot 65 percent (13-for-20) in the first quarter, and it looked like another long night on defense for a Spurs team that is 26th defending on the floor. But Houston shot 37 percent the rest of the way, including 2-for-10 in overtime.

TURNING POINT: Houston had a 92-91 lead with 2 ½ minutes left in OT, and the Rockets would have a chance to convert a pair of offensive rebounds over the next two minutes. Both came when Lowry found the ball underneath the basket. And though he would hit a pair of 3-pointers near the end of regulation and overtime that gave Houston life, the failure to finish off the second chances was the killer. The second one came when rookie Chandler Parsons could not take advantage of a mismatch over Parker with a missed shot in the lane, and Lowry could not get the follow to go down over Danny Green with 11.3 seconds to go. During that drama, Richard Jefferson hit a wide-open 3-pointer from the right corner that gave San Antonio a 94-92 margin with 1:09 to go, a lead the Spurs would keep the rest of the night.

QUOTABLE II: "I had a couple of offensive tip-ins that didn't fall. They're a great defensive team, but it happened that some shots didn't go in for us tonight."
-- Kyle Lowry

HOT: Parker has scored in double figures in all but one game this season. He established a season-high the previous night with 22 points at Milwaukee and beat it with the 28 Wednesday. Parker had 24 at the end of regulation.

NOT: Duncan showed understandable fatigue from playing 74 minutes the past two nights. He missed three-straight free throws late in the game and finished 3-for-6 from the line. He was 7-for-17 from the floor, but he had enough grit that he had a two steals and a block in overtime.

FANTASY SPOTLIGHT: Duncan's 17 points and 11 rebounds is the second double-double this season. But even with a night off, he's not likely to get the same sort of playing time against Portland at home on Friday.

GOOD MOVE: The Rockets played Samuel Dalembert only six seconds in the fourth and instead went with a smaller lineup featuring Lowry and Goran Dragic, who each played the entire 12 minutes. They quickened the pace, outscored San Antonio 5-0 on the break, and trimmed the Spurs' six-point lead to even it up at the end of regulation.

ROOKIE WATCH: Each team had a rookie coming off a big night. Parsons had 20 at Charlotte, including a pair of long jumpers on consecutive trips up the floor late in the game. He had eight points against the Spurs and missed all five of his 3-pointers.

Kawhi Leonard was 9-for-12 for 19 points and had four steals the previous night in Milwaukee. He was rewarded with his first professional start tonight and had 11 points, eight rebounds (three offensive) and a pair of blocks. Much of his career-high 37 minutes included guarding Kevin Martin on the perimeter, and Martin matched Parsons' 0-of-5 from the 3-point line.

NOTABLE: The only other team in the league, besides San Antonio, that is unbeaten at home and winless on the road is Milwaukee. ... Martin hit all four of his free throws and is 35-of-37 for the season. ... There was a 19-minute stretch when Scola failed to score after starting 7-for-10 from the floor and leading the Rockets to a first-half lead that would hit 12 points. He hit 2-for-11 to finish the game, but one of those was the score that sent the game to overtime.

UP NEXT: For the Rockets, Friday vs. Sacramento, Saturday vs. Portland, Monday @ Washington. Miami. For the Spurs, Friday vs. Portland, Sunday vs. Phoenix, Tuesday @ Miami.

• Rockets: Lee, Morris
• Spurs: Ford, Ginobili

• Rockets: --
• Spurs: --

• Lead Changes: 16
• Times Tied: 8

• Arena: AT&T Center, San Antonio, TX
• Officials: #32 Eddie F. Rush, #30 John Goble, #44 Eli Roe
• Attendance: 17381
• Duration: 2:18