Back to back versus Rockets are huge.

[ElNono]

Don't underestimate their Big rotation Elnono.

Jones, Donatas, and Howard can put up points..fast points. Smith has also adjusted his game to the benefit of his team..Houston is an inside and outside team

Their biggest issue right now is ballhandling. No one outside of Harden can run plays.

Foul them. Jones: 61%, Montejunas: 60%, Howard: 53%, Smith: 52%

The games I've watched, Smith is still the same old cancer. He can be conned into taking long range shots. You do that, you live with the results.

[apalisoc_9]

Foul them. Jones: 61%, Montejunas: 60%, Howard: 53%, Smith: 52%

The games I've watched, Smith is still the same old cancer. He can be conned into taking long range shots. You do that, you live with the results.

I don't disagree with a possible gameplan to let Smith Shoot. I was just saying Houston has won Multiple games this year with Donatas or Jones carrying the offensive load instead of Harden..So offensively, it's not just harden the spurs need to stop.

Also, howard is big and he looks good..really good.

I don't really think you can foul these guys whenever you want to..you want to have fouls to give at least before the 2 minute mark

[ElNono]

I don't disagree with a possible gameplan to let Smith Shoot. I was just saying Houston has won Multiple games this year with Donatas or Jones carrying the offensive load instead of Harden..So offensively, it's not just harden the spurs need to stop.

Also, howard is big and he looks good..really good.

I don't really think you can foul these guys whenever you want to..you want to have fouls to give at least before the 2 minute mark

Their bigs don't worry me at all. None. I'm way more concerned with 3 point shooting and transition D since that's how the likes of Ariza, Terry or Brewer score, and they're going to need that 3 ball and transition to put points on the board.

I don't know what Pop is going to do in the next two games, but I don't expect him to show his cards either, so we'll see, but looking at the percentages, fouling their bigs, and a lot, is definitely going to happen if we're down.

[OrEmuN]

I view the biggest problem with handling the Rockets starts and ends with the refs
If Harden is able to draw early fouls on Green and/or Kawhi, it would be hard to overcome
We all know Harden will flop - its just whether the ref will buy it

[Cowboys_Wear_Spurs]

Spurs are going to want to take both, I can guarantee that. The B2B is at home, so the Spurs definitely will want to win Wednesday night.

I think the Spurs could take both easily. Spurs are hardly expending any energy out their as they are in perfect sync on both the off and def ends of the court. Next to OKC, the Rockets pose the biggest threat to Spurs. But with Beverly out and them so thin in the Backcourt right now, Spurs should be able to beat them handily.

Ariza can't stop Kawhi. Harden is a horrible defender which the Spurs will exploit with their screens and shifts to get open 3 and looks. But trading Terry for Beverly. That is like trading Kawhi for RJ when it comes to defense. Beverly always bother Parker. Parker will be able to run circles around Terry and Pablo.

Just look at the boxscore last night, OKC guards lit the Rockets up. If they actually played defense like the Spurs G do, they would have easily won last night.

[MateoNeygro]

Like his game 6 1-7 shooting in 010 right? That or some of his bad games after that. This is not 06 man ... He fell off years ago tbh.

I'm hoping he was being sarcastic.

[tmtcsc]

[Raven]

the only problem with the rox, is if beli plays. there is no worse matchup for his lazy ass.

[jsandiego]

So no one knows the tie-breakers? We're quite possibly looking at a five-way tie for the 2-6 seeds at 55-27. That would be insane.

[pgardn]

Strangely I really am not worried about the Rockets.
If we play as we have been, we are going to be fine in the playoffs.

[SpurSwag]

I'm with Nono on how to beat Houston, they play their best when they get out and running and have their shooters like brewer, ariza, and terry hitting shots. I would much rather let D-Mo or Dwight get his than have the role players hit 3's, and if joey dorsey gets playoff minutes it'll be an easy hack a dorsey strategy too.

[gameFACE]

At worst the Spurs split the two games with the Rockets. There's no need to rest anyone until next week. They're in a groove right now. Even after Sunday's game there would be five, maybe six days until the first playoff game. That's a lot of rest.

But yeah, the games this week are huge in terms of seeding but not playoffs. In the playoffs, aside from what's already been mentioned, Houston still has a problem in that they have Dwight Howard. He's not a playoff closer, ever was or ever will be.

[Seventyniner]

Strangely I really am not worried about the Rockets.
If we play as we have been, we are going to be fine in the playoffs.

Agreed. Kawhi and Danny can each do a good job on Harden, and Parker won't have to ever guard a threatening player.

As with basically all possible matchups, having Splitter healthy is paramount.

[cjw]

Houston's going to be tough, especially given Harden's continual dominance. If Spurs win both, then #2 seed is very likely.

Crazy how Spurs went from struggling to hold on to #7 seed to potentially snatching the second highest playoff spot.

That would entail the Clippers losing another game. Lakers / Denver are almost certain wins (90-95% for each given motivations of the other team) and Memphis is struggling / Phoenix likely mails it in by then though nobody is close to them for draft order so may want to go out with a bang. 3 seed is more likely outcome, and I think Spurs end up in the 5.

Portland has a brutal trip to Brooklyn tonight for a makeup game and key is finishing with a better record to get home court. Spurs last game against New Orleans could be a bloodbath as they could be fighting for survival.

NO is tied in the loss column + tiebreaker with OKC. Both teams host the Spurs and travel to Minnesota, but NO has GS, @ MEM (b2b), PHX, @ HOU ... OKC has a much easier slate of SAC, @ IND, POR. If Spurs beat OKC, that gives NO one game to slip up. If seeding is already set in stone by the last game of the season, Pop may have a chance to dictate who Golden State plays.

[Killakobe81]

To me, the game plan against the Rockets is: play Harden straight up, don't foul, don't help. He can get his, try to minimize sending him to the line. Foul any of their bigs, including Howard, they're all below average free throw shooters. And then stay on the rest of their guys and minimize their damage. The rest of that team can't get past anybody on a dribble drive, nor post up. Get back in transition, since Brewer and Terry like to leak out for the open court drive or 3 pointer.

There's some difficulty for the Spurs because we're over eager to help, and this is a situation where you don't want to do that. But with proper execution, there's nothing more to it, IMO.

Solid analysis. Agree with most of this.

[manufan10]

Kind of along the same lines as ElNono said, if the Spurs just play straight up and let Harden and even Dwight get theirs, but play solid D on everyone else then the Spurs will be fine. The same as they did against the SSOL Suns teams. Let Nash and Amare get theirs and D everyone else up. No 3's.

[travis2]

So no one knows the tie-breakers? We're quite possibly looking at a five-way tie for the 2-6 seeds at 55-27. That would be insane.

If for some reason we have SA/HOU/MEM/LAC/POR all at 55-27 then I think the tie-breaker will be in 3 stages.

1. Break the 3-way between SA/HOU/MEM. The winner of that tie-break gets the "division winner" tag.

2. Top 4 seeds would be (not in order) GS/POR/SW Winner/3-way tie-break between LAC and other 2 SW teams.

3. 5/6 seeds set by 2-way tie-break

Regardless of seeding, HCA would be determined by record, using 2-way tie-break rules if necessary.

I don't see this happening, though...

[travis2]

Referencing the above post, here are the tie-break rules (in order; if a rule does not apply, go to the next one)

Two-team tiebreaker:

Division winner (this criterion is applied regardless of whether the tied teams are in the same division)
Better record in head-to-head games
Higher winning percentage within division (if teams are in the same division)
Higher winning percentage in conference games
Higher winning percentage against playoff teams in own conference (including tied teams)
Higher winning percentage against playoff teams in opposite conference (including tied teams)

Three-team tiebreaker:

Division winner (this criterion is applied regardless of whether the tied teams are in the same division)
Best head-to-head winning percentage among all teams tied
Highest winning percentage within division (if all tied teams are in the same division)
Highest winning percentage in conference games
Highest winning percentage against playoff teams in own conference (including tied teams)
Highest point differential between points scored and points allowed

Personally I don't recall a tiebreaker ever going beyond conference record...haven't checked that, but I don't recall seeing anything beyond that.

[SASdynasty!]

Head to head tiebreakers:

SAS vs HOU - 1-1 (2 games remaining)
SAS vs MEM - 2-2 (tied)
SAS vs POR - 1-3 (POR won)
SAS vs LAC - 2-2 (tied)

HOU vs MEM - 2-2 (tied)
HOU vs POR - 1-2 (POR won)
HOU vs LAC - 2-2 (tied)
MEM vs POR - 4-0 (MEM won)
MEM vs LAC - 2-1 (1 game remaining)
LAC vs POR - 3-1 (LAC won)

Division Records:

SAS: 6-7
HOU: 7-6
MEM: 8-7

Conference Records:

SAS: 28-19
HOU: 31-17
MEM: 33-15
POR: 30-17
LAC: 33-15

So basically if the Spurs don't win both games against Houston, they pretty much lose every tiebreaker. If they split those games, they couldn't win the tiebreaker over Houston or Memphis, even if they won their last divisional game against New Orleans. That would put them at 8-8, which would be the worst Houston or Memphis could finish at that point and then we lose the all the Conference tiebreakers.

[travis2]

Relevant for the #8 spot...NO holds head-to-head over OKC (3-1).

[Keepin' it real]

I think the b2b with Houston is not huge. Here's why:

• If the Spurs win both, then Houston is not the formidable challenge a lot of people think they are. So if they meet in the first round, so what?
• If the Spurs lose both, Houston likely ends up #2 and the Spurs end up #6, so they would not meet in the first round, and I have a feeling the Mavs would push Houston to a Game 7 if not outright win that series.
• If the teams split, then we're right back where we started before the b2b.

My personal preference is for the Spurs to not play Houston because of James Harden. Very annoying, that guy.

[cantthinkofanything]

All that's beign reported today is Harden beat Westbrook, Rockets win, etc. Anyone watching that game yesterday saw that the Rockets are trash.

[SASdynasty!]

I think the b2b with Houston is not huge. Here's why:

• If the Spurs win both, then Houston is not the formidable challenge a lot of people think they are. So if they meet in the first round, so what?
• If the Spurs lose both, Houston likely ends up #2 and the Spurs end up #6, so they would not meet in the first round, and I have a feeling the Mavs would push Houston to a Game 7 if not outright win that series.
• If the teams split, then we're right back where we started before the b2b.

My personal preference is for the Spurs to not play Houston because of James Harden. Very annoying, that guy.

I'd like to see us get the 2/3 rather than the 6 though. Winning three series potentially without HCA for any of them seems a bit troublesome.

[hater]

Portland in round one would be ideal. Then lolckets. Then lolippers. Then lolzzlies. Imho.

[Spurs 4 The Win]

It would be a dream come true to get the 2 and end Cuban's season two years in a row. Wow, how awesome would that be.