The San Antonio Spurs’ tour into Houston was a failure because they got satisfied with their work late and lost interest in guarding the 3-point line. It was their second matchup of the season with the Rockets,
and now they are even with two outings to go.
The first quarter ended with a 39-28 lead, as their hot 3-point shooting carried them and made up for struggles in the lane, while the Rockets were getting nearly everything at close range. Victor Wembanyama subsequently heated up after jamming over Clint Capela, and the team drained three more trifectas, but their open-court offense failed to pick up easy points.
They still went to halftime ahead by 10, more than doubling Houston’s 3-point makes, and keeping them at bay on the glass. The long-range shooting slowed down in the third quarter, but it took a while, and at one point, coach Ime Udoka looked numb on the bench when the cameras caught him following the Spurs’ 14th trey.
The Rockets then started playing with more urgency, quickly erasing all of San Antonio’s cushioning early in the fourth quarter as the latter started settling for outside shots. The Spurs even suffered a six-minute drought extending from the end of the third quarter, but they still couldn’t get it together after that amid Houston’s Tsunami.
Observations
- This is one of the team’s biggest meltdowns of the season. They failed 11 3-point tries in the fourth quarter, giving the game away because they refused to go to the body more. They were outscored in the fourth quarter by 15.
- The Rockets have a top-seven defense, but it’s no surprise the Spurs were blazing from 3-point range for three quarters because Houston allows 20.8 wide-open attempts per game. It makes no sense why the strategy is to pack the paint first when three is more than two.
- Houston had a problem with the rim’s leveling and had to bring in a new one 20 minutes after the scheduled tip-off. The Spurs went back to the locker room for a bit, while the Rockets kept warming up, but everything got rolling after the maintenance crew fixed it. This played a role in the Spurs being shaky on defense early because bizarre things like this can mentally throw players off, as they are creatures of routine. The rim needed a brief second look early in the fourth quarter, which cut the flow of the game as Houston was taking control, but they were fine. San Antonio was shellshocked the entire period.
- Julian Champagnie was the team’s top marksman, making eight 3-pointers. Four of them came in the first quarter, and that was a big reason why the Spurs maintained their early mental edge after the delayed start. But he later went colder than an ice box.
- Alperen Şengün’s objective against the Spurs is to get physical with Wembanyama, and it will continue to work until the latter gets stronger. Bumping and driving to the chest are how Şengün counters the length. Wemby can’t bail him out by leaving his feet, like when he picked up his third foul with seven seconds left of the second quarter.
- Reed Sheppard is a sharpshooter who torched the Spurs in the fourth quarter, but he is one of the worst defenders in the league, and he took on the easier assignment of guarding a weaker offensive player- Carter Bryant- so he didn’t have to contend with the quicker-footed ball handlers. Then there was a substitution, and he had no choice but to pick one up, and he looked lost out there. If the offense fails apart, he’s an option to hunt to try to reestablish a rhythm instead of settling for jumpers.
- This was the sixth time the Spurs have scored at least 70 going into halftime. Their record is 4-2 on those nights.
