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Friday October 26, 2007 11:30 PM


Rockets close presason with setback to Spurs


San Antonio 99, Houston 92



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Damien Pierce
Rockets.com Staff Writer
Before catching a flight to San Antonio for a quick, seven-hour excursion to San Antonio, Tracy McGrady informed the Rockets' coaching staff that he wanted a full workload in Friday's preseason finale.

He had a good reason.
"I want to make sure we're ready to go for opening night on Tuesday," McGrady said.

He found out the Rockets still have a few things to fix before opening the season.

Behind a hot start from Tim Duncan and the rest of the Spurs, San Antonio closed the preseason with a 99-92 victory over the Rockets Friday night at the AT&T Center.

The Rockets, which finished the preseason with a 3-4 record, didn't rest any of their starters until the late stages of the fourth quarter. But even after playing their starting five for at least 24 minutes apiece, Houston couldn't overcome the Spurs' hot-shooting performance.

With Duncan swishing open jumpers and Michael Finley delivering a 16-point effort, the Spurs canned 51.3 percent of their shots and drained nine three-pointers.

Rockets coach Rick Adelman wasn't thrilled with his team's final showing of the preseason.
"I wasn't very happy with the way that we played," Adelman said. "We were forcing the issue on the offensive end. We only had nine assists so that tells you we weren't passing the ball. We missed a lot of shots."

The Rockets, which had four players reach double figures, shot 41.1 percent from the field. McGrady had the strongest effort by scoring a game-high 21 points, but he produced that output after making only 9-of-22 shots. Luis Scola, who shot 6-of-14 from the floor, had 14 points and 10 rebounds.

Unfortunately, Houston didn't fare much better on the defensive end.

Despite pregame plans to keep Duncan out of the lineup, the Spurs forward suited up and scored 10 points in the opening quarter, pacing the Spurs to 31-24 lead. He made several jumpers from 18 feet without a hand in his face.

Finley then took over his act in the second quarter. The swingman scored 12 of his 16 points in the period, helping San Antonio maintain a 54-48 halftime advantage. The Spurs eventually stretched that lead to as much as 15 points.

"We were a step behind on defense," Adelman said. "We have to close out quicker."

The Rockets at least had Rafer Alston back in the lineup, who returned after missing the past two preseason games with a bruised right thigh. The point guard had two points and three assists in 24 minutes.

But beyond Alston's return, the finale wasn't as smooth as Adelman would have liked. Fortunately, they'll get a few days to fix it before opening the season against the Los Angeles Lakers on Tuesday night.

"It should be a good learning experience for us," Adelman said.