Rockets-Spurs Preview

By ALAN FERGUSON
Posted Jan 31 2012 10:02PM

A miserable defensive performance slowed the Houston Rockets' momentum. A visit to the San Antonio Spurs might not help them regain it.

The Rockets will try to win the season series with their in-state rivals for the first time since 1996-97 by snapping a four-game losing streak in San Antonio, where the Spurs have lost once this season.

Houston (12-9) gave up a franchise-worst 42 points in one quarter Monday during a 120-108 home defeat to Minnesota. The Rockets allowed the Timberwolves to shoot 58.1 percent, the best by an opponent this season, in losing for the second time in 11 games.

The defeat spoiled the return of leading scorer Kevin Martin from a two-game absence because of plantar fasciitis in his right foot. Martin finished with a team-best 29 points and was the only Houston player to score more than 13.

"It was just like we were sitting there and we could never find any kind of rhythm defensively," coach Kevin McHale said. "We never got many consecutive stops. We never really dug in and got things."

Houston has allowed San Antonio (13-9) to top 100 points in nine of the last 10 meetings, but the Rockets have been competitive in the three this season. They won both home games and lost 101-95 in overtime during their previous visit to the AT&T Center on Jan. 11.

Houston missed 8 of 10 shots in the extra period to fall for the seventh time in its first 10 games. The Rockets haven't suffered consecutive defeats since a four-game skid Jan. 3-7 but will face a Spurs team that's 10-1 at home.

"We've got to go down there and win," McHale said. "We've got seven of our next eight on the road, and we have to establish ourselves. More than anything else, we've got to get back to playing together as a team."

San Antonio avoided a season-high third straight defeat Monday, as reserve Matt Bonner hit five 3-pointers in an 83-73 win in Memphis.

"After (a 101-100 overtime loss at Dallas on Sunday), I was really disappointed," forward Tim Duncan said. "I think a lot of us wanted to come in here and give a much better effort."

The Spurs had five players in double figures Monday to offset another difficult night for Tony Parker. The point guard missed 7 of 9 shots while scoring five points, and he's 4 for 20 from the field over the past two games.

Parker had a season-high 28 points on 12-of-22 shooting during the home win over the Rockets, and he's averaged a team-best 21.3 in the three meetings. He has topped 20 points in five of his last six home matchups with Houston.

Martin has averaged 25.8 points over his last five games against the Spurs but hasn't topped 20 points in either of his past two visits to the AT&T Center, shooting a combined 39.3 percent.

Houston has lost in 31 of its past 37 visits to San Antonio, last winning 116-109 on Jan. 22, 2010.

Duncan and Parker lead Spurs over Rockets

Posted Feb 02 2012 12:38AM

SAN ANTONIO (AP) With the Spurs on the brink of getting blown out, Tim Duncan took over and carried them to victory.

Duncan scored 25 points and Tony Parker added 24 to help the San Antonio Spurs rally for a 99-91 victory over the Houston Rockets on Wednesday night.

The Rockets led by 18 points in the third quarter and looked poised to put the game away before Duncan led the Spurs on an 11-2 run. When he wasn't barking directions to his younger teammates, Duncan was burying running hooks in the lane. Duncan scored 16 points in the quarter, after which the Spurs trailed only 71-67.

"Tim Duncan, he went to the fountain of youth or something yesterday," Neal said. "Cause today he looked phenomenal. Tim's one of our leaders, everybody knows that; we just kind of fed off of him tonight."

The Spurs took their first lead since the first quarter on Danny Green's 3-pointer with 7 minutes left in the game - a shot that brought his former coach Roy Williams, in attendance to support Green, to his feet. Both teams traded baskets before the Spurs took the lead for good on Neal's runner with 2 minutes left. San Antonio closed the game on an 8-0 run.

"Timmy (Duncan) and Tony (Parker) did a great job of leading the way for the whole group and everybody else followed and they never gave in," Spurs coach Gregg Popovich said. "Timmy and Tony didn't allow them to. They did a fantastic team job tonight."

The Spurs (14-9) have won two straight and improved to 11-1 at home. Gary Neal had 15 for San Antonio, which split the four-game season series with the Rockets (12-10), who have lost two straight.

Kevin Martin scored 29 points to lead Houston but went 1 for 6 in the fourth quarter. Kyle Lowry and Courtney Lee each added 15, and Patrick Patterson had 10.

Duncan and Parker, who had six points and three assists in the fourth quarter, got plenty of help from Green. The athletic forward played most of the second half after going 0 for 4 from the field in the first half. His defense was key to Martin's second-half struggles.

"A guy like that, once he gets going, you've got to throw different things at him, try to cool down his rhythm," Green said. "We had different guys guarding him. He's very hard to guard cause because he can make shots and he also knows how to use his body to draw fouls. You have to be careful being physical with him. When he catches it, I just tried to be annoying so he doesn't get in rhythm and get comfortable to make shots."

It was a tactic that worked, as Martin started missing even open jumpers late in the game. Rockets coach Kevin McHale, though, said sloppy play also had plenty to do with the loss Houston committed 20 turnovers.

"We had too many turnovers," McHale said. "We turned it over and we fed into that (comeback) a little bit. They turned it up a little, and we had to respond with more ball movement and more hard drives. They made some shots and made some things happen."

Duncan, as so often has been the case, was key to comeback. After Martin's pull-up jumper put Houston up 58-40 with 10:25 left in the third quarter, Duncan responded with a short fadeaway jumper . He would score six straight points later in the quarter to pull San Antonio within three.

"I just tried to be aggressive, tried to get into the paint," Duncan said. "They were staying locked up with our shooters. They weren't double teaming and I got a chance to attack a little more and get to the paint and make some shots, and draw some fouls."

Notes: Williams coached Green at North Carolina from 2005-2009. . After starting, Spurs G Kawhi Leonard didn't play in the second half. . The Spurs have two more home games before going on the road for nine straight games. The Rockets will play six of their next seven games on the road. ... The Spurs have won 32 of their last 38 home games against the Rockets.

Notebook: Spurs 99, Rockets 91

By Tim Price, for NBA.com
Posted Thursday February 2, 2012 12:58AM

THE FACTS: Tim Duncan scored 25 points, and his 13 in the third quarter helped start a rally that snuffed out a 19-point Houston lead and keyed the Spurs' 99-91 victory on Wednesday at AT&T Center. The Spurs (14-9) also forced 21 turnovers (Houston gave up the ball nine times in the third quarter alone) and limited the Rockets (12-10) to 40.5 percent shooting in the second half.

QUOTABLE: "Tim Duncan went to the Fountain of Youth or something yesterday because today he looked phenomenal. We fed off Tim. He played great and everybody else kind of got their energy from Tim."
-- Spurs guard Gary Neal

THE STAT: The Spurs remained committed to throwing the ball in to Duncan, and with Samuel Dalembert sitting during a critical junction in the third quarter because of foul trouble there was not much the Rockets could do to defend it. San Antonio outscored Houston 42-16 in the paint for the game.

TURNING POINT: The Spurs had opportunities late in the first half and early in the second to cut Houston's lead to single digits but could not pull it off on either occasion. They finally did it by accident when Neal's lob went right under the basket to James Anderson. Anderson fumbled it, yet Duncan was right there to clean up the mess and follow with the bucket that cut the Rockets' lead to 66-58 with less than three minutes to go in the third. It was part of 11 straight points for San Antonio, and though it didn't give them the lead, it put the Spurs right back in it.

QUOTABLE II: "I don't think it was just that one thing (Dalembert's foul trouble and Duncan taking advantage of it). It was the whole game."
-- Rockets forward Luis Scola

HOT: It wasn't a season-high for Duncan (28 points, Jan. 23 at New Orleans), but Duncan did not shoot as well that night as he did against Houston. He was 9-for-12 against the Rockets, including 4-for-6 while playing the entire third quarter.

NOT: Kevin Martin started the game 8-for-11 and eventually scored 29 points for the second straight game. He did that despite finishing 2-for-10, including three misses on his final three shots of the game after a 91-91 tie with 2:22 to go. Courtney Lee opened by hitting his first five shots, but went 2-for-7 after that.

FANTASY SPOTLIGHT: Martin's 29 points came with nine rebounds and four assists. Too bad the Rockets are done with the Spurs this season. Martin averaged 25 points in four games, almost four points better than his season average.

INSIDE THE ARENA: North Carolina is in the middle of a three-day break between games, and coach Roy Williams attended the Rockets-Spurs game. He spent some time on the court beforehand with budding Spurs swingman Danny Green, who played for Williams at UNC until being drafted in the second round (46th overall) by Cleveland. ... Former Spurs defensive stopper Bruce Bowen had a night off from his network commentating duty and visited his old teammates in the locker room before the game.

GOOD MOVE: The Spurs trailed only once in the final six minutes and two other times averted falling behind by drawing charging fouls on critical possessions. The first came when Kyle Lowry skirted past Tony Parker and had Tiago Splitter to beat, but the two collided and Splitter got the benefit of the call. Five and a half minutes later the Rockets were on the break after Patrick Patterson rebounded a Parker miss and Lee was on a beeline to the basket. But Neal dropped back and let Lee run into him when a Houston basket would have tied the game. Instead, the Spurs got a Matt Bonner 3-pointer on the other end and went ahead by five with a minute to go.

BAD MOVE: Dalembert's third foul came just a little more than a minute into the second half with the Rockets ahead by 17. He picked up his fourth less than a minute later and Houston up by 18. Dalembert came out and sat the rest of the third quarter and Duncan made his final four shots before the quarter ended with Jordan Hill mostly assigned to him. Houston's 18-point lead dwindled to 71-67 heading into the fourth.

ROOKIE WATCH: Tough night for the rookie starters on each team. Chandler Parsons played 16 minutes and went 1-for-5 for Houston. Kawhi Leonard, who had a double-double for San Antonio two nights ago in Memphis, also was 1-for-5 in eight minutes -- three points, one rebound.

NOTABLE: The Spurs were in danger of dropping their second season series with a Western Conference opponent and losing a tiebreaker with a team that's currently sitting close in the standings. San Antonio already has lost the season series to Minnesota (currently 3 1/2 games back of the Spurs) and the Rockets are 2 1/2 games back of the Spurs after splitting four games head-to-head this season. ... The Rockets were shooting to win the season series for the first time since the 1996-97 season (when the teams' starting centers were Hakeem Olajuwon and David Robinson).

UP NEXT: For the Rockets, Friday vs. Phoenix, Saturday @ Minnesota, Monday @ Denver. For the Spurs, Thursday vs. New Orleans, Saturday vs. Oklahoma City, Monday @ Memphis.

• Rockets: Morris, Thabeet
• Spurs: Ford, Ginobili, Thomas

• Rockets: --
• Spurs: --

• Lead Changes: 6
• Times Tied: 5

• Arena: AT&T Center, San Antonio, TX
• Officials: #43 Dan Crawford, #18 Matt Boland, #78 Scott Bolnick
• Attendance: 18581
• Duration: 2:10