The Spurs prevailed tonight by doing something that you haven’t seen from the Silver and Black for the last couple of years. They performed well under pressure and executed better than their opponent down the stretch. The Spurs played with discipline to overcome a talented Rockets team that fought hard the whole game. Alperen Sengun and Kevin Durant fought back every time the Spurs got out to a significant lead, and Reed Sheppard provided a nice contribution on offense for Houston.
The Rockets continued
the same defensive strategy that has stymied Wembanyama the last couple of games, sending double teams and doing a lot of swiping at the ball whenever he tried to dribble. It was pretty effective in the first half as they were able to force turnovers, but the Spurs adapted, and Wembanyama got the ball to the other Spurs, and Harrison Barnes, Devin Vassell, and Julian Chamagnie made key shots, eventually freeing up Victor to do a little more on his own as the Rockets had to defend the Spurs shooters. Keldon Johnson had his usual high energy game off the bench and blunted the Rockets surges several times in the game by making key rebounds and hitting key shots. Offensive rebounds were a killer in the Lakers game, but in tonight’s game, the Spurs were the team grabbing all of the offensive rebounds and turning them into points.
You have to give credit to Mitch Johnson, who had his team ready to compete tonight, which could have been tough with the difficult loss to the Lakers less than 48 hours ago. It’s a tribute to the resilience of the Silver and Black that they had possibly their best effort of the season right after that tough loss.
Observations
- The game was on Amazon Prime. Couldn’t they afford someone to call the game better than the lesser Van Gundy brother? At least Dirk Nowitzki, Steve Nash, and Blake Griffin showed up for the pregame
- I’m glad the NBA cup court for the Spurs was a tasteful gray. Too many of them really look horrible on TV.
- The Rockets are #1 with offensive rebounds, which has been a problem for the Spurs. That killed the Spurs in Los Angeles, they will need to be a better job tonight, and they did.
- It’s a bit odd whenever Wemby is battling with another player for position, if a foul gets called it’s always on him. It is just easier to see the 7’5” guy? Because both players are doing stuff.
- The starters were a little slow out the gate for the Spurs, but when the bench got into the game, Keldon Johnson and Jeremy Sochan took over and gave the Spurs an early lead. The Rockets fought back and led 25-23 at the end of the first quarter.
- Reed Sheppard looked like a wasted draft pick for the Rockets last year, but he’s developed into a solid offensive threat this year. I think he’s going to be a good pick for them.
- If the refs let Sengun continue to use the chicken wing on Wembanyama, it’s going to be a long night for the tall Frenchman.
- The Spurs were bothered by the Rockets defense in the second quarter and couldn’t hit shots and trailed by double digits in the quarter. They finished the quarter on an 12-0 run and led 51-50 at the half as the defense came alive and Stephon Castle did Castle stuff.
- Am I imagining things, or is Mitch Johnson doing a really good job with the team on getting them to close out quarters with effort and execution.
- The Spurs continued their hot streak to start the third, and built a little lead early, with only Durant providing offense for the Rox, and the Spurs had their first double digit lead of the night.
- Champagnie is always listed as the guy who’s going to be replaced in the starting lineup but he just keeps making plays and doing a great job in his role. He’s probably underappreciated by the fans, but he’s really doing exactly what the Spurs ask of him.
- It’s really great to see the Spurs play defense with discipline and coordination. Now if they could just do it consistently.
- The third quarter was ended with a Rockets run, as the Spurs inexplicably ran away from Sengun at the end to the quarter, ceding him an open three to cut the lead to 4, with the Spurs leading 86-82 with one quarter to play.
- Keldon Johnson might be having his best year as a Spur. His energy is indispensable and got the Spur back into the game every time the Rockets made a run.
- The zone was pretty effective against the Spurs for most of the game, but they started to break it in the fourth by having Wemby use motion to find open spots late.
- Wembanyama got his fifth foul by putting his hand of Sengun’s face while fighting for a rebound. It was called a flagrant foul, but that seemed to mostly because of an Oscar-worthy acting job from Alperen.
- The Rockets fought back to with three with 5 minutes left, as the Spurs were under pressure on every possession to match the opponent. They rose to the occasion, as they either hit their shots, or got offensive rebounds for easy second chances.
- The last minute was chaos as neither team could hold onto the ball but the Spurs held on to win, capped with a breakaway steal and dunk by Barnes, to win 121-110.
- The Spurs are 1-0 in the NBA Cup Tournament, which probably doesn’t mean anything.
It’s the first night of a back-to-back for the Silver and Black, and they play the Pelicans, who started the season at 0-6, but have turned it around a bit lately, wining their last 2. The Spurs barely beat the Pelicans last time they played, winning in overtime, so it’s not a game they can take for granted. They’re going to have to have a solid effort to win their second in a row. De’Aaron Fox is scheduled to return, and it’ll be interesting to see if he can instantly make an impact, or if there is rust from the long layoff.
