Holding their own
Young guards’ defense helps ruin Westbrook’s home debut
HOUSTON — James Harden dribbled once, then twice, then three times. By the time he got to dribbles seven, eight and nine, in rapid succession, the Toyota Center crowd let out an audible “ahhhh.”
All the while, Spurs guard Dejounte Murray mirrored Harden like a dance partner.
By the time Harden reached dribble No. 13, the shot clock near zero Wednesday, Murray remained stubbornly between the Houston Rockets star and the basket, forcing his ensuing floater to clang off the rim.
“He’s the MVP, one of the best in the world, but I don’t get into that,” Murray said. “I come to play basketball just like he does.”
With Murray and fillin starter Lonnie Walker IV anchoring the Spurs’ defense against Houston’s new dynamic duo of Harden and Russell Westbrook, the Spurs hammered the mostly listless Rockets 128114 to claim their first victory of the preseason.
LaMarcus Aldridge finished with 22 points on 11of13 shooting, Murray poured in 20 points, and the Spurs got 16 off the bench from Jakob Poeltl as they built a lead that rose as high as 25 and seldom was threatened.
It was by far the Spurs’ most complete performance of the preseason. Coming as it did one week before the curtain rises on the regular season, it was a welcome sight.
“I thought this was our best night for executing and competing,” Spurs coach Gregg Popovich said. “That was good. We had a lot of guys that played hard and were a little bit sharper.”
A smattering of 17,283 Houston fans showed up for what amounted to Westbrook’s hometown debut.
Popovich, too, counted himself a
curious onlooker to the WestbrookHarden reunion in Houston.
Mostly, Popovich was itching to see how his callow backcourt would react to facing a Houston duo with 15 combined AllStar berths, a pair of MVP awards and three NBA scoring titles to its collective credit.
“Those guys are good players, they’ve been around forever, they’re MVPs,” Popovich said. “So it’s good for our guys to play against them.”
Walker drew a start at small forward with DeMar DeRozan resting, and held his own defensively mostly matched up with Westbrook.
Murray was on Harden detail, spelled from the bench by Derrick White.
The Spurs won that battle early. Harden and Westbrook started a combined 4 of 12 as the Spurs ran out to a doubledigit lead.
Harden eventually got his night together to finish with 40 points, 10 rebounds and seven assists. Westbrook never got much of anything going, ending his Houston unveiling with 14 points on 5of13 shooting while committing eight turnovers and five fouls.
Houston coach Mike D’Antoni said he expects improvement from Westbrook, obtained in a July trade with Oklahoma City to be Harden’s latest AllStar sidekick. In another life, both had been Thunder teammates.
“He’ll work into it,” D’Antoni said. “He’ll be fine, and you can see when he goes, he goes.”
D’Antoni was more vexed by the state of the Rockets’ nonexistent defense, which the Spurs scorched for 57.1 percent shooting, including 10 of 27 from the 3point arc.
Asked if Houston’s sluggishness could be blamed on lingering jet lag — the Rockets have played games in Hawaii and Japan during this preseason –— D’Antoni chuckled.
“Boy I hope so,” he said. “Because if not, we’re in trouble. We just didn’t get into anybody.”
Popovich — like his Houston counterpart — left the Toyota Center with the belief the Rockets eventually will work out how to make their new power couple function.
“I would assume it would be just fine,” Popovich said. “They’re pros. Mike’s a great coach. They’ll figure it out.”
As intrigued as Popovich was to see the Harden and Westbrook combo in action, he was more concerned with evaluating how his young backcourt survived the defensive trial by fire.
Murray is a 23yearold onetime member of the NBA’s AllDefensive team who missed all of last season with a knee injury. Walker, 20, played sparingly as a rookie.
Popovich’s final assessment of his youthful guards Wednesday?
“About as good as you can expect against two MVPs,” Popovich said. “I thought they did every
thing we asked them to do. You’re not going to hold those guys scoreless. Sometimes they’ll make you look foolish. Sometimes you’ll get the better of it.”
Midway through the first half, Murray got the better of it.
The footwork involved in Murray’s stop of 13 Harden dribbles was textbook. It was also a more difficult feat to pull off than it looked.
Guarding Harden or Westbrook in space can be a bit like a boxer trying to dodge a combination of punches.
“They’re going to be out there in isolation,” Poeltl said. “They’re going to hit you with three, four, five, six moves, trying to lull you to sleep. They have the freedom to take up the whole shot clock, really. It’s tough to stay engaged that whole 24 seconds.”
Said Aldridge: “Those guys are so good, they know how to change it up. They’re chameleons. They can shift and change and be different players. It was good for our guys to get their first taste.”
For Murray, guarding Harden was exactly the kind of test he signed up for. In the span of 13 dribbles, Murray passed that exam.
He wouldn’t have wanted to be anywhere else Wednesday night.
“You’ve got to love it,” Murray said. “I love defense. I love the challenge. I love to compete with the best. That’s just that.”