Spurs Win Fourth Straight With First Road Win

It started ugly and ended ugly, and George Hill has the bloody nose to prove it, but the Spurs held on to beat the Houston Rockets for their fourth straight win and their first road win of the season. The Spurs missed 10 of their first 14 shots, but Houston never managed to build a lead bigger than seven points. The Rockets took a 46-44 lead into halftime, but a combination of Spurs defense and Rockets inept shooting all but doomed the Rockets as they went nearly eight minutes without a basket in the 3rd quarter. Meanwhile, the Spurs piled up an extra 14 points during that stretch. The Spurs, kind hearted souls that they are, did give the Rockets one more chance to win by committing six turnovers in the first seven minutes of the 4th quarter, and the Rockets managed to cut  the deficit to two on a Carl Landry put back with less than a minute to go. That’s when Jefferson drove to the basket, was fouled, and get this – he made both free throws for a change. Going back the other way, the Rockets missed and George Hill got his nose bloodied while coming down with the rebound. Thanks Kyle Lowry. Hill stuck around to make his free throws and took a seat. Game Over (practically). 92-84 Spurs.

Some interesting notes on the game:
-Houston shot a dismal 36% for the game – 17% in 3rd quarter alone.
-The Rockets scored 46 points in the paint. If not for the Rockets shooting terribly for a few stretches, this could have had a different outcome. The Spurs need to lock up the paint better and play defense for all 48 minutes, especially in the 4th quarter. However, they did do a good job of not letting the Rockets get into their offense for much of the night, and limited their fast break opportunities.
-The Spurs are still committing too many turnovers. They had 14 last night, but thankfully Houston had 12 of their own.
-The Spurs shot 45% from the field.
-They shot well in part because they only took five three-point attempts. They were a collective 2-of-5 from beyond the arc, and Roger Mason made both of those – he was 2-of-2 from downtown.
-They didn’t need to jack up 20 threes since they were attacking the basket. The Spurs nixed the threes in this game and shot 34 free throws instead, making 26-of-34. Houston, on the other hand, shot 18 threes, going 8-of-18 from downtown, but only shot 14 freebies, going 10-of-14 from the line.

Highlights:

Notable Spurs Stat Lines
Tim Duncan: 21 points, 12 rebounds, 3 assists, 4 blocks. Timmeh is doing his thing, but is still playing a ton of minutes – 36 last night.
Tony Parker: 19 points, 7 assists, 2 rebounds, 1 steal. 4 turnovers – eesh.
Antonio McDyess: 15 points, 14 rebounds (5 offensive boards), 2 steals, 1 block. And this is why he needs to start all the time.
Richard Jefferson: 9 points, 2 rebounds. He had a slow night on 1-of-5 shooting, but hit 7-of-7 from the line. I love that he is agressive and attacks the basket. Settling for jump shots with the Spurs up 86-84 and less than a minute to go would have been disastrous.
DeJuan Blair: 7 points, 5 rebounds. And he did it all in just 10 minutes, and that was due in part to 5 fouls. Need to ease up on hackin’ folks, DeJuan.

Notable Rockets Stat Lines
Luis Scola: 18 points, 12 rebounds, 2 assists, 1 steal. His 4 turnovers were a team high, but he kept them in it all night.
Trevor Ariza: 17 points, 11 rebounds, 5 assists, 2 steals, 1 block. All around good game until you realize he shot 6-of-21 from the field. Maybe he needed to spread the ball more – could’ve won and had a triple-double, who knows?
Carl Landry: 13 points, 4 rebounds – all offensive boards, 1 block. Landry continues to be one of the best and most under-appreciated big men off the bench in the league.
Kyle Lowry: 10 points, 3 rebounds, 3 assists, 3 steals… 3 turnovers. He played too hard at times, committing 5 fouls and smacking George Hill in the face, but you gotta admire him a little.
Aaron Brooks: 12 points, 4 assists, 1 rebound. 5-of-16 from the floor just added to the Rockets’ shooting woes last night, plus he and Chuck Hayes each had three of their shots blocked. Chuck finished with 6 rebounds and no points.

Coyote Ugly: Shane Battier
25 minutes, no points, 3 rebounds, 2 fouls. 0-of-2 from the field and ended his 27 consecutive game streak with a three pointer. Talk about an off night. At least he didn’t turn the ball over though. Still, the Rockets can’t expect to win with Shane taking up 25 minutes on the court and doing next to nothing, especially when their scoring needed a jolt last night.

Tags: Aaron Brooks, Antonio McDyess, Carl Landry, Chuck Hayes, Coyote Ugly, DeJuan Blair, George Hill, Houston Rockets, Kyle Lowry, Luis Scola, Richard Jefferson, Roger Mason, San Antonio Spurs, Shane Battier, Tim Duncan, Tony Parker, Trevor Ariza