HOUSTON — The Houston Rockets (18-9) overcame a 25-point deficit to defeat the Spurs (10-16) Monday night. The win was a reversal of the teams' meeting on December 4, when the Spurs came back from a 22-point hole to beat Houston in double overtime.
The Spurs led by 19 points at halftime, but allowed the James Harden/Russell Westbrook to get going, especially in the second half for Harden. Westbrook finished with 31 points, 10 rebounds and 4 assists. Harden had 28 points, 8 rebounds and 7 assists.
Six Spurs scored 10 or more points, led by LaMarcus Aldridge, who tallied 19 points and 14 rebounds. Rudy Gay also notched a double-double, with 12 points and 11 rebounds. Bryn Forbes scored all 18 of his points in the first half on six three-pointers. Dejounte Murray and Derrick White scored 16 points each and DeMar DeRozan had 12.
The Rockets dominated the paint, outscoring San Antonio 56-34 in the lane and gobbling up 14 offensive rebounds. The Spurs committed 18 turnovers, leading to 21 Houston points.
The result snaps a streak of four straight overtime contests for the Spurs. The Silver and Black return to action Thursday when they host the Nets. Tip-off is slated for 7:30 p.m. at the AT&T Center.
FOURTH QUARTER:
Early in the final period, the game slowed down. That should favor the Rockets, who have two of the best isolation scorers in the business. The Rockets were resting Westbrook to start the quarter and Harden was tightly guarded, so other players stepped up. Ben McLemore and Danuel House took advantage when they were guarded by Marco Belinelli. The Spurs called a timeout with 6:47 to play and a 97-92 lead.
After going 6-for-6 from long range in the first half, Bryn Forbes didn't take another three-point attempt until there were under 7 minutes left in the game. He missed, and the Rockets scored to make it a 97-94 Spurs lead. If Forbes doesn't have the hot hand anymore, look for other role players, like Derrick White, to score.
With 4:45 left in the game, the Rockets took a 101-97 lead on a Harden dunk. The Rockets are winning every loose ball and the fans in Houston are finally providing a home-court advantage.
Houston called a timeout with 3:24 to play, and when the action resumed, LaMarcu Aldridge made two free throws to give the Spurs a 102-101 lead. Then the Rockets made a three, but Aldridge went back to work and scored again.
With the game tied at 104, PJ Tucker made a three-pointer to put Houston up by 3.
The teams exchanged a handful of fruitless possessions and suddenly, there was less than a minute to go.Rudy Gay made a layup to cut the deficit to one, and Dejounte Murray forced a Harden miss.
With under 20 seconds to play, Bryn Forbes got a wide open corner three that would have given the Spurs the lead, but it rimmed out. The Spurs had to foul to prolong the game, and James Harden drained a pair of free throws to make it 109-106. The Spurs only added one more point.
THIRD QUARTER:
After three, the Spurs lead 89-83.
The nice thing about building a big lead in the first half is that you can come out flat to start the third quarter and still be comfortably ahead. That's where the Spurs were in the first few minutes of the third. The Rockets opened on an 11-3 run, but the Spurs' lead still sat at 11 points.
The Spurs were stuck on 3 points in the third quarter for a while. Rudy Gay scored the team's fifth point of the period five minutes in, and the Rockets used that time to come back, cutting the deficit under 10 points for the first time in a while.
Even worse, Trey Lyles spilled some fan's beer. Those things are expensive, to say nothing of the courtside seats!
Of course, that came after Russell Westbrook put the ball in that position in the first place. You heard it here first: the Rockets started it!
Back on the court, Rudy Gay got up to double figures in scoring, but the third quarter has otherwise not been kind to the Spurs. James Harden got going, scoring 12 points in what felt like the blink of an eye, and the lead was down to 7 points with about 3 minutes to go in the quarter.
The Spurs really limped to the end of the quarter, allowing Houston to win the period, 30-17. What was a 19-point lead for the Spurs was cut to 6, thanks to some better shooting and defense by the Rockets.
The Harden/Westbrook duo got up to a combined 52 points through 3. The Spurs have been more balanced, with five players up to 10 or more points: LaMarcus Aldridge (15), Dejounte Murray (16), Bryn Forbes (18) and Rudy Gay and Derrick White with 10 points apiece.
HALFTIME:
The Spurs shot 57 percent from the field (27-47) in the first half as they compiled a 19-point lead in Houston in the first half. The story for the Silver and Black was the shooting of Bryn Forbes, who went a perfect 6-for-6 shooting from long range. His 18 points came on just 6 shots. LaMarcus Aldridge had 13 points and 7 rebounds, while Dejounte Murray only missed once on his way to tallying 14 first-half points. DeMar DeRozan only made one field goal, but dished 5 assists.
The Spurs did an outstanding job containing NBA leading scorer James Harden. The Beard went 4-of-17 from the field for just 9 points. Crucially, he didn't get to the foul line. Russel Westbrook picked up the scoring slack with his 25 points on 10-of-16 shooting.
SECOND QUARTER:
At halftime, the Spurs lead 72-53.
When you're hot, you're hot. The Rockets called a timeout with 8:07 left in the 2nd quarter after a Bryn Forbes three-pointer gave the Spurs a 48-26 lead. That came right after James Harden missed a similar shot for the Rockets.
At that point, Russell Westbrook's 13 points represented half of the Rockets scoring. He and Harden had taken 11 shots each, with the rest of the Rockets combining for 15 shots. Harden made just 1 of his first 11 shots.
The Spurs, meanwhile, were led by LaMarcus Aldridge's 11 points and 6 rebounds in 12 minutes on the floor. Bryn Forbes, who has had some off nights, made all three of his attempts from beyond the arc. Getting good looks in transition is nice, but the defense has been fantastic to start.
Bryn Forbes forgot how to miss, apparently. He made his first six attempts from deep in a historic half in terms of outside shooting for the Spurs.
Forbes' 18 points led the Spurs with 4:17 to go in the half. The Spurs held a 59-38 lead at that point. Russell Westbrook led all scorers with 21 points, but he needed 13 shots to get there. Bryn needed just six. That's efficiency!
Speaking of efficiency, the most efficient shot in basketball is a dunk. It almost never misses! The Spurs got to the rim with ease near the end of the second quarter. They finished the half with a well-earned 72-53 lead.
FIRST QUARTER:
After one, the Spurs lead 35-21.
The Rockets scored first, but the Spurs went ahead and scored the next 16 points in the game. No big deal. The Spurs shot the lights out in the first eight minutes, threatening to turn the game into a blowout. Good defense (3 steals in the first few minutes) and a deft shooting touch from LaMarcus Aldridge (9 points on 4-of-5 shooting) helped the Silver and Black to a quick lead of double digits.
A Rudy Gay three-pointer pushed the lead to 15 points, but the Rockets eventually got going on offense. They weren't able to do much to cut into the lead, as James Harden was limited to 2 points on 1-of-9 shooting.
PREGAME:
A lot has happened since the Spurs defeated the Houston Rockets on December 4, but in some ways, we're still in the same spot.
Yes, the 135-133 double overtime victory brought us Lonnie Walker's breakthrough performance and the controversy over James Harden's fourth quarter dunk that didn't count.
Yes, the Spurs have played three straight additional overtime games since that win, claiming victory in two of them.
But the Rockets are still having a great season behind the otherworldly scoring of James Harden and the Spurs are still trying to get back to .500. And Lonnie Walker hasn't followed that second-half scoring outburst with another offensive barrage.
While there are still plenty of questions around the Spurs more than a quarter of the way into the season, there's no doubt their rivalry with the Rockets is even hotter now than it was before the memorable game two weeks ago.
The Interstate 10 rivals meet for the second time this season at 7 p.m. Monday at the Toyota Center in Houston. The game will be broadcast by KENS 5, the Official Television Station of the San Antonio Spurs.
The Spurs will be thrilled if this game can be wrapped up early, avoiding another thrilling finish like they had Saturday.
