Spurs vs. Rockets Previews

[duncan228]

Houston (23-18) at San Antonio (25-16) (http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/preview?gid=2010012224&prov=ap)
Game info: 8:30 pm EST Fri Jan 22, 2010
TV: FSH, FSSW
By Matt Becker

The San Antonio Spurs’ offense has abruptly cooled off and the losses are quickly mounting. Despite the suddenly sluggish offense, Tim Duncan probably likes his chances of becoming the seventh member of the 20,000-point club against the Houston Rockets.

Duncan, one point shy of reaching that milestone, looks to help the Spurs get their offense back on track and avoid losing for the fourth time in five games Friday night when they host the Rockets.

San Antonio (25-16) opened a six-game homestand Wednesday with a 105-98 loss to Utah, allowing the Jazz to sweep the season series for the first time since 1993-94. It also marked the Spurs’ third loss in four games after losing only four times in its previous 19.

Poor shooting is to blame for San Antonio’s little slide. The Spurs shot 39.3 percent and made just 6 of 21 shots from beyond the arc (28.6 percent) Wednesday, and are averaging 89.3 points on 40.4 percent shooting in their last four after averaging 105.2 points on 51.5 percent shooting in winning four of their previous five.

“We need to shoot the ball better. We were God awful in that area,” Gregg Popovich said. “It’s going to make things really tough if you shoot that poorly.”

San Antonio appears to have a decent chance to fix its offensive woes, as the Rockets (23-18) have been shaky on defense lately, allowing an average of 107.2 points in their last six games.

Duncan had a rough night shooting the ball against Utah, going 5 of 15 from the field and finishing with 14 points - leaving him at 19,999.

Duncan, who was named to his 12th All-Star Game on Thursday, has never been held without a point in 937 career games. He had 21 points and 12 rebounds in a 92-84 win at Houston on Nov. 27, the only other meeting between these teams this season.

Tony Parker added 19 points and seven assists against the Rockets and is averaging 23.0 points and 9.0 assists in the last three games in the series.

Houston hasn’t played since a 101-98 overtime victory over Milwaukee on Monday to improve to 3-5 this month, but none of those victories are high-profile ones.

In addition to the Bucks, Houston has also defeated Minnesota and New York - teams with losing records - while losing to New Orleans, Phoenix, Charlotte, Miami and the Los Angeles Lakers - all teams above .500.

The Rockets haven’t defeated a team with a winning record since a 97-94 victory over Dallas on New Year’s Eve to finish 11-5 in December.

“I don’t think we are as connected as we were earlier in the year,” forward Shane Battier said. “There are different reasons for that, but this is the time to turn it around.”

Although the past three weeks have been a struggle for the Rockets, Luis Scola gave the team another encouraging performance Monday.

Scola scored a season-high 27 points and grabbed 15 rebounds, and is averaging 19.4 points on 59.7 percent shooting in his last five games after averaging 12.3 points on 48.5 percent shooting in his previous six. The 6-foot-9 forward had 18 points and 12 boards in the November loss to the Spurs.

*********************

Team Stat Leaders

Points
Aaron Brooks Hou 18.6
Tim Duncan SA 19.8

Rebounds
Luis Scola Hou 8.8
Tim Duncan SA 10.4

Assists
Aaron Brooks Hou 5.1
Tony Parker SA 5.5

[200 miles]

Small-ball, anyone?

[duncan228]

Pregame report: Rockets vs. Spurs (http://blogs.chron.com/nba/2010/01/pregame_report_rockets_vs_spur_1.html)
Jonathan Feigen
Houston Chronicle

KEY PLAYERS

ROCKETS

G - Trevor Ariza has shot well in his three games this season with three days rest, making 50 percent of his attempts in those games, averaging 18.3 points. He had 17 points and 11 rebounds in his previous game against the Spurs.

SPURS

F - Tim Duncan went into Wednesday's game against the Jazz 15 points shy of the 20,000-point mark. He had 14 before fouling out. Duncan, however, is averaging 19.8 points, 10.4 rebounds and 3.2 assists.

Rockets update: The Rockets take a season-long five-game road losing streak to a venue that has been one of the toughest for them over the years. When the Rockets lost to San Antonio, 92-84, in November, it was the 37th-consecutive game between them in which neither team has scored 100 points, the longest streak in the NBA. The Rockets are coming off their lowest scoring, worst shooting half of the season.

Spurs update: The Spurs have lost three of their past four games, including Wednesday's game against the Jazz to begin a six-game homestand. Tim Duncan, the only player to rank in the Top 20 in points, rebounds, blocks and field goal percentage, is one point shy from the 20,000 mark in his career. Tony Parker, playing with plantar fasciitis, has fallen off from last-season career-high scoring, averaging 16.8 points per game.

KEY MATCHUP

Tim Duncan versus Chuck Hayes. Hayes has generally done well in slowing the Spurs' star. In his past four games against Hayes and the Rockets, Duncan has made 29 of 79 shots (37.7 percent), averaging 19 points and 9.8 rebounds.

LOOK FOR ...

1. The production off the bench. The Spurs have the top-scoring bench in the NBA; the Rockets are third.

2. The Spurs' 3-point shooting. The Spurs are 15-3 when hitting 40 percent of their 3s or better, 1-8 when falling short of 40 percent.

3. The matchup at point guard. As vital as Aaron Brooks' scoring is to the Rockets, he almost must defend Tony Parker and will often have to go against an outstanding perimeter defender in George Hill.

[Flux451]

Hopefully Bonner's Power Glove will punch us back into to offensive overdrive

[Manu-of-steel]

Blair should play more against the rockets, i expect him to have 8+ rebounds on this game. I'm confident the spurs will win this one.

[duncan228]

Friday: Rockets (23-18) at Spurs (25-16) (http://www.mysanantonio.com/sports/spurs/Friday_Rockets_23-18_at_Spurs_25-16.html)

Time: 7:30 p.m.
TV: FSNSW
Radio: WOAI-AM 1200, KCOR-AM 1350

STARTING LINEUPS
POS - SPURS - ROCKETS

PG - 9 Tony Parker (6-2, 9th yr) - 0 Aaron Brooks (6-0, 3rd yr)
Mighty mite Brooks outscoring Parker 18.6 points per game to 16.8.

SG - 3 George Hill (6-2, 2nd yr) - 1 Trevor Ariza (6-8, 6th yr)
In two straight starts, Hill averaging 16 pts., supplying defensive swagger.

SF - 10 Keith Bogans (6-5, 7th yr) - 31 Shane Battier (6-8, 9th yr)
Bogans has logged one FG or fewer five times since Jan. 10.

PF - 21 Tim Duncan (6-11, 13th yr) - 4 Luis Scola (6-9, 3rd yr)
Let's try this again: Duncan takes second shot at 20,000-point milestone.

C - 45 DeJuan Blair (6-7, 1st yr) - 44 Chuck Hayes (6-6, 5th yr)
A matchup of the two shortest starting centers in the NBA.

SPURS RESERVES

15 Matt Bonner, C/F, 6-10, 6th yr
22 Marcus Haislip, F, 6-10, 4th yr
20 Manu Ginobili, G, 6-6, 8th yr
24 Richard Jefferson, F, 6-7, 9th yr
8 Roger Mason Jr., G, 6-5, 6th yr
34 A. McDyess, C, 6-9, 15th yr
42 Theo Ratliff, C, 6-10, 15th yr

ROCKETS RESERVES

13 David Andersen, C, 6-11, 1st yr
10 Chase Budinger, F, 6-7, 1st yr
43 Brian Cook, F, 6-9, 7th yr
15 Joey Dorsey, F/C, 6-8, 2nd yr
14 Carl Landry, F, 6-9, 3rd yr
8 Jermaine Taylor, G, 6-4, 1st yr

COACHES
Spurs: Gregg Popovich
Rockets: Rick Adelman

INJURIES

Spurs: Michael Finley (sprained left ankle) is out.
Rockets: Yao Ming (left foot surgery) is out.

PROJECTED INACTIVE PLAYERS

Spurs: Ian Mahinmi, Finley, Malik Hairston
Rockets: Yao, Tracy McGrady

NOTABLE

Spurs won first meeting 92-84 in Houston on Nov. 27, claiming one of only two road wins against the Southwest Division this season. ... McDyess had 15 points, 14 rebounds for his best game as a Spur. ... In Wednesday's loss to Utah, Jefferson came off the bench, marking the first time since April 24, 2005, when he was a reserve for New Jersey in a playoff game against Miami.

- Jeff McDonald

[Blackjack]

Over-Under on Tim having 9x more offensive rebounds than defensive?

[duncan228]

Adelman considers change in rotation (http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/sports/bk/bkn/6829581.html)
By Jonathan Feigen
Houston Chronicle

Rotation tweak?

Rockets coach Rick Adelman is considering changing his rotation. But if he does it, the change would be temporary and would be done to better match up with an opponent.

With San Antonio's Manu Ginobili coming off the bench, Adelman said he might not start Shane Battier so he can come in when Ginobili does, as he did last season against the Spurs. Ginobili did not play in the teams' first meeting this season.

“We haven't decided yet,” Adelman said. “Shane and I talked about it. It's something we did last year so he was on the floor when Ginobili was on. It's something we're thinking about for sure.”

The Rockets could use Kyle Lowry or Chase Budinger in Battier's usual starting position.

Don't think so much

Making just 38 percent of his shots this season, Trevor Ariza said he has been worrying about his shooting. The key he said is to relax and shoot with confidence.

“The best thing for me to do is just let it go and stop worrying about it and just go out and shoot it,” Ariza said. “I think that's when I struggle with my shot. I think too much, instead of just letting it go. I'm aiming my shot — ‘please go in' — instead of just shooting it and knowing it is going to go in.”

Ariza is averaging 5.6 rebounds and 3.7 assists.

But he has shot slightly better lately, making 40.9 percent in his past five games.

Tough assignment

With his next point, the Spurs' Tim Duncan will have scored 20,000 career points, offering another reminder of the challenge that faces Rockets center Chuck Hayes.

“He's a Hall of Famer,” Hayes said. “You have to pick your battles. You have to understand there's going to be some possessions when he gets the best of you. The guy is a load. He has every move in the book.”

[Lars]

Should be a good one!

[duncan228]

A little midseason fine-tuning (http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/sports/bk/bkn/6829666.html)
A three-day break gave the Rockets some needed rest, time to retool
By Jonathan Feigen

As valuable as the Rockets believed their unusual midseason break in the schedule would be, the idea was not to get the practice court sweaty.

The Rockets wanted to become a better team at the end of the week than the team they were when the week began.

They went into three days without a game — resting Tuesday and practicing Wednesday and Thursday — with the defense slipping badly and the offense coming off its lowest-scoring, worst-shooting half of the season.

After several days of retooling, they head to San Antonio, one of the NBA's toughest test tracks, to see if the repairs worked.

“These past couple days of practice, we went extremely hard, got some things fixed,” Rockets guard Kyle Lowry said Thursday. “Now we'll play tomorrow and see if it paid off.

“We worked on (going against) some zone. We worked on our defense more. We worked on everything. It's good to get days like this. We got our bodies rested, fixed some things, watched some film and got back to things we missed out while playing so many games in a row. It gives us time to get back in the gym and practice.”

The Spurs don't play much zone defense and do not have much reason to change. The Bucks' zone turned the game around Monday. The Spurs held the Rockets to 35.9 percent shooting Nov. 27, at the time the Rockets' worst shooting game of the season. That night, the Rockets began the second half missing their first 16 shots, scoring a season-low 12 points in their worst shooting (16.7 percent) quarter of the season.

After three days without a game, they might have gotten much-needed rest but also have not shot well in a game in nearly a week.

“We're either going to come out really fresh or come out a little rusty,” center Chuck Hayes said. “Either way, with (the Spurs) playing (Wednesday) night, with the taste of defeat in their mouth, I'm sure they're going to come out strong and try to jump on us early. That's what practice is for. We're going to try to apply everything we did in practice to the game.”

Stopping the Spurs can be as much of a challenge as scoring against them. Averaging just 12 fast-break points per game, they are largely a half-court team, 11th in scoring. But they are sixth in field-goal percentage and third in 3-point shooting.

But after several days of focusing on their own play, the Rockets thought the key to dealing with the Spurs would be how well they apply the changes to themselves.

“It's going to be hard to stop them, but we're going to find a way,” guard Trevor Ariza said. “We're going to find a way to win.

“Whenever you get a chance to get in a practice and work on the things you've been slacking off on, you pick up on things, and you get better. Getting these two practice days, I think we definitely got better.”

The last time the Rockets had three days between games they returned to beat the Cavaliers.

“We were able to go through things, hit home on some stuff,” coach Rick Adelman said. “And after this weekend, we have a game every other day. Having two practices is good for us.”

[shelshor]

Referee Assignments
Fri. Jan 22
Houston @ San Antonio: Derrick Stafford; David Guthrie; Courtney Kirkland

[Bukefal]

We will win this one for sure. We'll start of very well I think, just lets hope we dont give it up all in the 4th quarter. We need every motivation the players can get out of themselves.

Spurs 103
Rockets 98

[Chomag]

The I10 rivalry has always been usually be a good one. Spurs better come with intensity because most the Rockets will most likely.

[DBMethos]

The Rockets get so much out of the talent they have...if we played with the kind of team effort that they did every night, we'd be the best team in the NBA right now, bar none.

[silverblackfan]

RJ off the bench again? I wonder if this is him not feeling right or Pop trying to get more use of him with Manu?

[cherylsteele]

RJ off the bench again? I wonder if this is him not feeling right or Pop trying to get more use of him with Manu?A little of both maybe?

[Blackjack]

Given the fact that RJ had just missed a game for back spasms, I have a hard time believing they brought him off the bench due to that (sitting on the bench and coming in well after the warmup, isn't real conducive to back problems). It seemed a move of preference more than necessity.

I'm not sure if what ensued to start the Jazz game will have Pop throw that same lineup out there again, but it seemed like something Pop was experimenting with and not something he felt forced to do.

[TampaDude]

Spurs win a close one tonight. Timmy gets 20K with a FT.