Houston Rockets Sink San Antonio Spurs in Game 1

The Houston Rockets came out with immense firepower from behind the arc on Monday, exactly what was needed to dominate the first game against the Spurs.

The game was all but over after about two and a half quarters. By the time the fourth came around, the Houston Rockets had 94 points on 44% shooting from three point range.

Perhaps the closest the game ever got tonight was during the somewhat tense moments of the pushing and shoving between Dewayne Dedmon and Trevor Ariza.

Besides that, San Antonio was no match for Houston on absolutely every facet of play.

Coming in, it was expected of James Harden to deliver, however such lights out shooting from the Rockets was not. From behind the arc, Houston shot 22/50 while San Antonio just 9/29.

Four of the five Rockets starters scored in double figures, and the only Rocket to start and not land with more than ten points was Patrick Beverley, who had a plus/minus of +37.

James Harden had no triple-double, but needed no triple-double, as his 14 assists led to a barrage of open jump shots and other open passes for Houston’s three point shooters.

The leading scorer for the Rockets was Trevor Ariza, who had 23 points and shot 50% both from three point land and from the field as a whole. If the Rockets’ second best performer plays like this the rest of the series, Houston is in very good shape.

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Another very, very bright spot for the Houston Rockets Monday night was Clint Capela. After being relatively quiet in Round 1, Capela went out with a double-double of 20 points and 13 rebounds in Game 1 of this series.

Capela’s continued dominance down low will be very much needed for later in the series when Gregg Popovich makes adjustments.

Houston beat San Antonio in just about every major stat category apart from offensive rebounds and points off turnovers. Needless to say, however, the Rockets just looked better than the Spurs on all levels and ran them out of their own building.

Next: (Un)biased Thoughts on Rockets vs. Spurs

Tune in Wednesday at 9:30 ET as the Houston Rockets try to steal a second game on the road to make for a comfortable trip back to the Toyota Center.