Derrick White is a very good defender, with sneaky good hands, stripping the ball from Rocket ball handlers and causing turnovers without fouling.
RUDY GAY SPURS DUNK ROCKETS FREE
The Rockets iced the game with a Harden three-point shot and three free throws after a Spurs miss, with a meaningless late Bryn Forbes basket making the margin 108-101 for Houston. DeMar DeRozan tied it up with a drive, but offensive rebounds gave the Rockets extra chances, and they cashed it in with an Eric Gordon three. It was short-lived, as Harden hit a step-back three to put the Rox ahead. Rudy Gay’s triple from the corner completed the comeback with three minutes left and the Spurs led 97-96. Aldridge got free under the basket, and then a White jumper cut the Rockets lead to a pair. The Spurs continued to fight, even if didn’t seem fair, and they cut the lead to 5 with five minutes left. After Harden shoved Derrick White out of the way on a drive to the basket for an obvious offensive call that wasn’t called, it was starting to look like the Spurs weren’t going to be able to get back in the game. The Spurs looked like they had a chance to get back into the game, but the failure to secure rebounds kept giving the Rockets extra chances to make shots. Jakob Poeltl led a 6-0 Spurs run to cut the deficit to 10 with just under 9 left in the game. The Spurs offense looked a little better to start the fourth, but they couldn’t get stops as the Rockets seemed to be on cruise control.
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Gerald Green continued to be red hot from outside, and after a buzzer beating three pointer from Gary Clark, the Rockets led 84-69 after three quarters. Rudy Gay helped the Spurs stay in it with his mid-range game, but Gerald Green and Eric Gordon got hot from outside to push the lead back to double digits for the Rox.
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Finally, the Spurs got on the board with a short range shot from LMA that rattled in. Harden backed White to the basket, and then Tucker hit a three and before you knew it, the Rockets had a 53-43 lead, on a 16-0 scoring run, capped with a Capela dunk. Harden hit a corner triple to open the scoring in the second half, giving the Rockets the lead. The Rockets ended the quarter on a mini-run, with Harden getting free throws and feeding Clint Capela for a dunk. Both teams were cold shooting, but the Spurs managed some impressive defense on Harden, and finally a deep three from Marco Belinelli put the Spurs ahead 41-34, finally getting them a little bit of breathing room. Harden finally got a basket for the Rockets to bring them to within four of the Silver and Black, and Pop called a timeout with 6:44 left. The Spurs turned up the defense, with a spectacular Jakob Poeltl denial of Eric Gordon at the hoop as one of the highlights. A Derrick White drive down the lane for a layup gave the Spurs a three point lead, and after Davis Bertans dribbled into an open three, the Spur led 34-28. Rudy Gay opened the second quarter with a pure three-point shot to give the Spurs the early lead. The Rockets led 28-26 after one with Danuel House’s driving dunk and Gerald Green’s late three bouncing all around the rim and in to give them the lead. As annoying as that was to watch, it often resulted in open shots or a foul, so it was effective enough. The Rockets’ offense mostly consisted of Harden pounding the ball until the clock ran down, and then either taking a shot or dealing the ball to another player on the perimeter.
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The two opposing strategies were almost equally effective as the Spurs led 18-17 halfway through the quarter. The Rockets concentrated on shooting the long ball and the paint, and the Mid 3 hitting the efficient twos from the midrange. Tucker opened the game with a corner three to put the Rockets up. But they couldn’t secure the rebounds, and the Rockets took over in the last three minutes, finishing out the game on a 12-5 run and winning 108-101. The Spurs fought their way back into the game late, taking the lead with three minutes left on a gutsy three-point shot from Rudy Gay. The Spurs played a solid game for most of the first half, but they came out of the locker room in a coma and fell behind by a huge margin as the Rockets turned offensive rebounds into second chances and easy points. Whatever the opposite of undefeated is, that’s what the Spurs are on the second game of back-to-backs.