Game Day Preview: Houston Rockets vs Spurs, Feb 27

In their final meeting this season the Houston Rockets face the top ranked Southwest Division San Antonio Spurs with views of trying to steal another victory.

Let’s take a look at how the two teams match up:

The Details

Venue: Toyota Center, Houston Texas

Game Time: 8:00 PM EST – 7:00 PM CT

TV: ESPN National TV, ROOT and KENS HD

Radio: 790 AM and WOAI 1200AM

Recent History:

Jan 27 SAS 130 – 99 HOU
Jan 2 HOU 103-121 SAS
Dec 25 SAS 84 – 88 HOU
Apr 10 SAS 104 – 103 HOU
Apr 9 HOU 98-110 SAS

Walking Wounded:

Spurs:

Manu Ginobili– targeting mid March
Matt Bonner – calf, game time decision

Rockets:

Clint Capela – ankle, game time decision
Donatas Motiejunas – targeting return tonight
Sam Dekker – remains out recovering from back procedure and listed on CBS Sports as out until Mar 1 minimum

Projected Starters:

Spurs: Tony Parker, Danny Green , Kawhi Leonard, LaMarcus Aldridge, David West

Rockets: Patrick Beverley, James Harden, Corey Brewer, Trevor Ariza, Dwight Howard,

Key Reserves:

Spurs: Patty Mills, Boris Diaw, Kyle Anderson

Rockets: Josh Smith, Marcus Thornton, Jason Terry, Ty Lawson

Spurs at Rockets /

Keys to Winning:

Get off to a strong start: Don’t let the Spurs bury you early, therefore it’s important Houston keep San Antonio within range for the first quarter.

Take advantage of your few better ranked assets: Two areas the Rockets are obviously stronger than the Spurs is their ability to force turnovers (though the Spurs don’t cough the ball up much despite what happened in Golden State) for steals and offensive rebounding. The Rockets need to take advantage of these areas.

Win the paint: The Spurs post arguably the strongest (and wisest) front court in the Association, but if the Rockets are to compete they’ll need to take advantage of their youthful, versatile bigs including Howard, Smith, Ariza and Jones to offset the strength of San Antonio.

Win the rebound battle: As noted the Rockets hold an advantage on the offensive boards so they’ll need to utilize that to create second chance scoring opportunities and work to make their defensive rebounding as strong to create points in transition. Of note, the Spurs choose to not get offensive rebounds in favor or stopping the opposition in transition. Based on their league leading defense I wonder how many teams will follow shortly given the nature of the NBA to be a copy cat league.

Play it a possession at a time: As much as it’s unlikely the Rockets can win this game with all the factors against them they need to focus on their defense and literally take this one possession at a time.

The Pick:

The odds makers have the Spurs favored by a 5.5 points and it’s hard to argue that spread given their record. The over – under is 213.0 points which feels a little high, but perhaps they expect the Spurs to not lock down defensively until the 4th. Majority action is heavily on the Spurs.

Prediction: Spurs by 10

For more exciting news and stories on the San Antonio Spurs visit our affiliate FanSided site: Air Alamo

Next: Spurs Team Preview - Master Class

Next: Join Space City Scoop Writing Team

Space City Scoop is always looking to add new talent to our writing team. Currently we’re looking for individuals with a specialized focus. The first area of focus is perfect for someone who is constantly surfing the web for breaking news on injuries, trades, insider info etc. This individual would select the top news items and provide timely quick hits to keep SCS readers in the loop.

The other area of focus is someone who possesses a strong social media background who likes to interact with Clutch City Fans. You’ll promote SCS team content on facebook and twitter while also making sure to promote the best content coming from H-Town fans. If you have this capability and are interested check out this link and fill out an application.

Home/Rockets News