The San Antonio Spurs are not going to play much worse in their second-round series vs. Houston than they did in their 126-99 loss to the Rockets. It’s also doubtful that the Rockets will play much better than they did for the rest of this series. The calls after the game from both teams was “It’s one game,” as Gregg Popovich summed up the game as only he does, with “We lost, and they won, and they played better.”
But for the Spurs, the concern comes not from the 27-point margin of victory for Houston, or the 39-point biggest lead, or the transition points differential (27-9 through three quarters). The concern comes from the fact that the Rockets not only won in the edges you would expect them to, but that they dominated so many matchups which should have gone their way. To wit:
- Ryan Anderson is slow of foot and small in stature compared to most bigs. He should be the player that is exploited, and instead, the Spurs had a 64.3 points per 100 possessions mark with Anderson on the floor through the first 30 minutes. For comparison, the Rockets scored 122.3 points — nearly double that — with Anderson on the floor. Anderson was a better defensive player than LaMarcus Aldridge in Game 1, digging for two steals and adding two deflections. He added five rebounds, one fewer than Aldridge.
- If the Spurs are going to play two bigs as they did for most of the game, they have to punish Clint Capela inside, or the guards who wind up on switches. Instead, Aldridge shot 2-of-7 from the field and was completely lost, as Capela flummoxed him and the Rockets helped without being punished for it as Aldridge dropped the ball.
- Kawhi Leonard was 5-of-14, a minus-16, and Trevor Ariza was the best defensive player on the floor. That’s disastrous.
- James Harden had 14 points and nine assists with Kawhi Leonard and Danny Green on the floor, a plus-9 in 18 minutes. He had thee turnovers, but dominated in those minutes on a night where he didn’t even have to be great. He was 3-of-6 from 3-point range.
- The Rockets outscored the Spurs by 23.6 points per 100 possessions when Harden was on the bench.
All of these areas where the Spurs should have had an advantage got flipped upside down, and all the areas they were going to lose, they lost, too. The Rockets hit 15 3-pointers in three quarters. The Spurs hit nine for the game, total. The Spurs’ big men were run off the floor, and Popovich still stuck with two-big lineups consistently.
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