Rockets drop Game 2 against Spurs
Game 1 pluses evaporate when intensity wavers
SAN ANTONIO — The Rockets took the Spurs’ best shot and got back up Wednesday night.
They were on the verge of being blown out and rallied. They were outworked and overmatched from the opening tip, but less than a minute before the fourth quarter, they were within three points.
They had solved nothing. The Spurs had felt the sting of the Game 1 blowout and hit the Rockets with all they had. It was a matter of time before the Rockets crumbled.
The crash came as soon as the fourth quarter began, with the Spurs blowing the game open and rolling to a 121-96 romp nearly as lopsided as the Rockets’ rout in Game 1 no matter how close the score had seemed even when the game wasn’t.
As much as the Rockets will need to correct, they pointed to one shortcoming above all others.
“A lot of it is heart and soul,” Rockets coach Mike D’Antoni said. “I thought we had more heart the first game, more determination. They’re champions. They came back at us. We expected that. Now we have to come back at them.”
For the Spurs, the win, however, might have come with a cost. Guard Tony Parker, who has been sensational in the postseason, landed awkwardly on a pullup jumper in the fourth quarter, immediately going to the court and grabbing his left knee. He had to be carried off the floor.
“It’s not good,” Spurs coach Gregg Popovich said.
Whether Parker returns, the Rockets have to respond every bit as much as the Spurs did. The Spurs had put Kawhi Leonard on James Harden and then swarmed to suffocate him in the lane, with Harden seeming frustrated on his way to a 3-of-17 shooting night. Leonard was magnificent, scoring 34 points on 13-of-16 shooting.
The Rockets hit half as many 3s as in Game 1, going 11-of-34 from deep. The Spurs easily moved the ball through the Rockets’ defense, making 54.5 percent of their shots on the way to a lead that reach 30 with the benches cleared. Spurs show intensity
But more than all that, the Spurs came with every bit of the intensity and determination the Rockets insisted they knew was coming, but the Rockets could not match it.
“They played very well,” D’Antoni said. “Kawhi was unbelievable. We expected all that. There were opportunities, 50/50 balls we didn’t get. We had to have more fight in us to beat these guys two games at home.”
Harden did stumble on the base of the basket stanchion in the first half and struggled on the next possession before grimacing as he called a timeout. D’Antoni said he tweaked a hip, but that it was not a factor. “He’s fine,” D’Antoni said. “I’ll be all right,” Harden said. He struggled more with the Spurs’ defense. Though he said he just missed shots, going 2-of-9 from 3-point range and failing to finish when he got to the rim, he also never seemed comfortable with Leonard able slow him long enough for the help in the lane to come much more effectively than in Game 1.
Other than Ryan Anderson, who was 4-of-5 on 3-pointers, the Rockets were 7-of-29 on 3s, failing to make the Spurs pay for all the attention devoted to Harden.
“We made a couple changes, tweaks, with how we played people,” Popovich said. “It seemed to work out tonight.”
The game turned into a blowout, however, when Harden and Leonard were out. The Rockets had closed to within three before Jonathon Simmons hit a jumper with 1.6 seconds left in the third quarter. The Spurs then scored the first nine points of the fourth quarter. Leonard takes over
When Leonard returned, he nailed three straight shots and the rout was on.
“We scored enough points until the fourth quarter,” D’Antoni said. “The whole game was the start of the fourth (quarter), we gave up three offensive rebounds they put back. Instead of getting in transition, maybe getting down zero, you get down 10 or 12.
The rout, however, also seemed to be coming.
The Rockets could weather the storm; they just never stopped it. Now, they’ll have to handle the blowout loss. They have seen how it’s done.
“It’s just one night, one game, just like Game 1 was one game,” Popovich said. “Nobody is too excited about a win or a loss. Just go on to the next game.”