Game Day: Houston Rockets seek consecutive wins vs Spurs

Nov 9, 2016; San Antonio, TX, USA; Houston Rockets shooting guard James Harden (13) drives to the basket while guarded by San Antonio Spurs small forward Kawhi Leonard (2) during the second half at AT&T Center. The rockets won 101-99. Mandatory Credit: Soobum Im-USA TODAY Sports

Houston Rockets gutted out a victory over the San Antonio Spurs and look to make it two in a row this time on their home court.

The Houston Rockets are finally back home after an exhausting 5-game road trip. Generally the first game back from a long road trip is one teams tend to have a let down. It’s not an intentional drop in play, more of a natural instinct for the players to relax coming back home. I’ve been asked about this phenomenon over the years and the closest analogy I can provide is when you return from vacation. How many times have you traveled for business or vacation only to say I need a couple days to recover? In essence that’s what players go through returning home.

That said the Rockets will buoyed from what was a huge win in San Antonio on Wednesday evening. Once more James Harden was at his best dishing assists, but along with that came more turnovers. While many are cringing over those turnovers it’s important to have some patience with Harden as he adjusts to being a full time point guard.

This time out the Spurs are on a back to back having played last night and needing all 4 quarters to pull out a victory versus a tough Pistons squad.

With that,  SCS offers the Game Day Countdown:

Next: Off Season Spurs Moves

Nov 9, 2016; San Antonio, TX, USA; Houston Rockets shooting guard James Harden (13) drives to the basket while guarded by San Antonio Spurs shooting guard Manu Ginobili (20) during the second half at AT&T Center. Mandatory Credit: Soobum Im-USA TODAY Sports

Draft Picks

Round 1: Dejounte Murray (29)

Round 2: N/A

Incoming:

• Bryn Forbes : given a guaranteed contract beyond Summer League
• Pau Gasol 2-years $30M
• Olivier Hanlan (trade exchange from Jazz for Diaw)
• Dewayne Dedmon on 2-year $6M deal, exits Orlando
• David Lee on 2-year $3.2M deal exits Dallas

Exiting: 

• David West veteran minimum contract of 1 year at $1.3M to Warriors
• Boris Diaw (traded to Jazz)
• Boban Marjanovic 3-years $21M offer sheet (Spurs will not match)

Re-upping:

• Tim Duncan Exorcised Option – Since then has retired
• Manu Ginobili  1 year, $14M
• Ryan Arcidiacono, No terms provided
• Davis Bertans No terms provided

Next: Starting Line-Ups

Oct 21, 2016; San Antonio, TX, USA; San Antonio Spurs power forward LaMarcus Aldridge (12, left) and Kawhi Leonard (2, right) talk on the bench during the second half against the Houston Rockets at AT&T Center. Mandatory Credit: Soobum Im-USA TODAY Sports

Houston Rockets Starting 5:

(stats from 2015-16)

Point Guard:  James Harden – 29 points, 7.5  assists, 6.1 rebounds, 2016 SCS Harden preview

Shooting Guard: Corey Brewer –  2016 SCS Brewer preview

Small Forward:  Trevor Ariza – 12.7 points,  2.3 assists,  4.5  rebounds, 2016 SCS Ariza preview

Power Forward: Ryan Anderson – 17.0 points  1.1 assists, 6.0 rebounds  Anderson Media Day

Center:  Clint Capela – 7.0 points, 0.6 assists, 6.4 rebounds,  2016 SCS Capela preview

San Antonio Spurs Starting 5:

Point Guard:  Patty Mills 8.5 points,  2.8  assists, 2.0  rebounds ()

Shooting Guard:  Danny Green – 7.2 points, 1.8 assists, 3.8 rebounds

Small Forward:  Kawhi Leonard – 21.1 points, 2.6  assists, 6.8  rebounds

Power Forward:  LaMarcus Aldridge – 18 points,  1.5 assists,  8.5  rebounds

Center: Pau Gasol – 16.5 points,  4.1 assists, 11  rebounds

Notes:

• Mills replaces Parker who is out injured
• Green made his season debut versus the Rockets on Wednesday

Next: The Benches

Nov 4, 2016; Salt Lake City, UT, USA; San Antonio Spurs head coach Gregg Popovich (left) talks with guard Manu Ginobili (20) on the bench during the second half against the Utah Jazz at Vivint Smart Home Arena. San Antonio won 100-86. Mandatory Credit: Russ Isabella-USA TODAY Sports

Houston Rockets Bench:

Guards:

• Eric Gordon – 15.2 points, 2.7  assists, 2.2 rebounds Media Day
• Tyler Ennis –  2016 Ennis preview
• Bobby Brown  –  Rockets announce 15 man roster

Wings:

• Sam Dekker –  2016 SCS Dekker preview
• Kyle Wiltjer  –  Get to know more about Wiltjer

Bigs:

• Nene Hilario –  2016 SCS Nene Preview
• Montrezl Harrell  –  2016 SCS Harrell Preview
• Chinanu Onuaku  –  Analyzing the Rockets 37th pick

Reserves:

Guards: Manu Ginobili, Dejounte Murray

Wings: Kyle Anderson, Jonathan Simmons, Nicolas Laprovittola, Davis Bertans, Bryn Forbes

Bigs:Dewayne Dedmon, David Lee

Next: Game Particulars

Oct 27, 2016; Sacramento, CA, USA; San Antonio Spurs guard Tony Parker (9) during the game against the Sacramento Kings at Golden 1 Center. The Spurs won the game 102-94. Mandatory Credit: Sergio Estrada-USA TODAY Sports

Walking Wounded:

Houston Rockets:

• Patrick Beverley – rotoworld reports Beverley is ahead of schedule following the knee scope and anticipates a mid November return. Targeting November 21.

San Antonio Spurs:

• Tony Parker – knee, will not play
• Danny Green who has missed several games with an injured quadricep is slated to play on Wednesday

All injury news as per rotoworld  as well as CBS Sports

Venue:

Toyota Center, Houston, TX

Radio and Television Providers:

In Houston and Area: Root Sports

Worldwide: NBA League Pass

Radio: 790 AM

Game Time: 7:00 PM CT and 8:00 PM EST

Next: Keys to Winning

Nov 9, 2016; San Antonio, TX, USA; San Antonio Spurs power forward LaMarcus Aldridge (12) is fouled by Houston Rockets shooting guard James Harden (13) during the first half at AT&T Center. Mandatory Credit: Soobum Im-USA TODAY Sports

Fight the fatigue:  As mentioned the first game back from a long road trip most players have a hard time finding their game flow and fighting fatigue. Look for D’Antoni to utilize his bench extensively to help in this regard. Fortunately, the Spurs also played last night, so they will also be fighting fatigue.

Limit Kawhi: The Rockets did a good job the other night of keeping Kawhi in check. They’ll need to replicate that effort tonight.

Bench Warriors: Both teams feature plenty of youthful talent. Last time out K.J. McDaniels played just 5 minutes, so hopefully D’Antoni will utilize him more in this outing. It would be great to see Eric Gordon, McDaniels, Dekker and potentially Harrell begin to develop a chemistry and there’s no better time to start then on their home court after a road trip.

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Match Spurs effort: San Antonio is in an unusual position having lost 3 games in the past week (Jazz, Clippers, Rockets). Knowing how consistent the Spurs are you can expect Popovich to have them dialed in to even the score (just like they did versus the Jazz last week). The key will be to maintain focus, energy and a consistent effort defensively.

For more details on the squads check out the 2016-17 team previews:

Next: Houston Rockets 2016-17 Team Preview

Next: San Antonio Spurs 2016-17 Team Preview

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