NBA scores 2015: The Spurs are an unstoppable death machine, extinguish Rockets by 12

The Spurs destroyed the Rockets and took another step toward possibly getting the No. 2 seed in the West.

Apr 9, 2015, 11:55 AM UTC

Soobum Im-USA TODAY Sports

The Spurs don't care about your winning streaks. You have a 12-game winning streak and have the best record in the league? The Spurs will beat your brains in. You have a three-game winning streak, have won seven of eight and are the No. 2 seed in the conference? The Spurs will break you.

The latter scenario is exactly what happened on Wednesday night in San Antonio, where the Rockets helplessly tried to come up with a key victory for seeding purposes in the Western Conference. Houston actually got off to a good start behind James Harden and Dwight Howard, going up by as many as nine points in the first quarter. However, the Spurs reeled the Rockets in and proceeded to blow the doors off them in the second half en route to a 110-98 victory and a ninth consecutive win.

San Antonio led by four points at halftime, but that lead ballooned to 14 by the end of the third quarter as the defense clamped down and Tony Parker and Kawhi Leonard took over offensively:

Most amazing stat: Spurs have had a double-digit lead in 22 straight games.
— David Aldridge (@daldridgetnt) April 9, 2015

The Spurs played with their food in the fourth quarter, extending the lead all the way to 22 points before the Rockets’ scrubs made their death a little more respectable. But by getting the lead up over 20 points, we get this cool stat:

Spurs have now had a 20+ point lead in 10 of their last 12 games. Seven of those 12 were 25+ point leads. @danmccarneySAEN
— Jordan Howenstine (@AirlessJordan) April 9, 2015

But wait! There’s more!:

The @spurs have tied an @NBA record with 9 straight wins by 12+ points. The only other teams to do this were the 2008-09 Cavs & 2011-12 Heat
— Basketball Reference (@bball_ref) April 9, 2015

Parker, who was supposedly dealing with a sore Achilles the other night, led the way with 27 points on 13-of-18 shooting. It seems that Achilles is just fine. Leonard had 20 points on 9-of-15 shooting and racked up four more steals, giving him 14 steals over the last three games.

Harden scored only 22 points after scoring 13 in the first quarter, and he finished a team-worst -26. So not only do the Spurs not care about your winning streaks, but they also have no time for your MVP candidates.

Thanks to this outcome, San Antonio is now just a half-game behind Houston and Memphis for the No. 2 seed. The Spurs and Rockets get together again on Friday in Houston, so San Antonio could make a move in the standings then.

Speaking of the Grizzlies ...

3 other things we learned

Grizzlies back?: The Grizzlies haven't been playing all that inspiring of late, but Wednesday night in the Grindhouse was a totally different story. Memphis didn't just beat Anthony Davis and his Pelicans; it was an emphatic beatdown of New Orleans. The game was tight after the first quarter, but the Grizzlies outscored the Pelicans by 33 points over the final three frames to come away with a 110-74 win and a hold of the No. 2 seed. At least for the moment.

Zach Randolph, Marc Gasol and Jeff Green all scored 15 points as Memphis got balanced scoring throughout its lineup. The Grizzlies' defense was in prime form as well, giving up just 35 percent shooting against a Pelicans squad that was on the second night of a back-to-back after an uplifting victory over the Warriors put them at No. 8 in the West. Despite the ugly loss, New Orleans still holds the No. 8 seed by virtue of holding the tiebreaker over Oklahoma City.

Derrick Rose is back ... kinda: Rose returned to the Bulls' lineup after undergoing surgery on Feb. 27 for a torn right meniscus, and he was naturally rusty after missing nearly six weeks of action. He mostly kept to the perimeter against the Magic by jacking up six three-pointers and making just one of them. He scored nine points on 3-of-9 shooting and turned the ball over four times, but there was one flash of his patented burst:

While Rose had an uneven performance, it looked like the Bulls were going to thump the Magic early on by running out to a 15-point advantage in the first half. However, Orlando hung around and ultimately pulled out a 105-103 victory thanks to a Victor Oladipo layup in the final seconds. With Chicago losing and Toronto destroying Charlotte, the Raptors moved back into the No. 3 seed in the Eastern Conference. Also, the Cavaliers clinched the Central Division and the No. 2 seed.

Brad Stevens deserves all of the adulation: The Celtics basically punted on the season when they traded Rajon Rondo and Jeff Green. Only they didn't punt on the season, because Brad Stevens is amazing and has done a whale of a job getting Boston all the way up to the No. 7 seed in the Eastern Conference, which is where the Celtics sit after a 113-103 win in Detroit.

A trade deadline deal for Isaiah Thomas also didn't hurt, and the diminutive point guard had himself a game on Wednesday night. After scoring 25 points in a thrilling victory over the Raptors last Saturday, Thomas had 34 points on 10-of-17 shooting against Detroit and was a +35 off the bench. Thomas is making a case for Sixth Man of the Year, while Stevens should be in the conversation for Coach of the Year, even though he likely won't win because of the masterful jobs done by Steve Kerr and Mike Budenholzer. The Celtics are now 36-42 and the No. 7 seed by virtue of their tiebreaker over the Nets, who fell to 36-42 thanks to a three-point loss to Atlanta.