The Houston Rockets blew out the San Antonio Spurs, 126-99, after leading by 30 points at the half. The quick pace of Houston’s offense matched by the efficiency of its three-point shooters proved too much for San Antonio to handle.
LaMarcus Aldridge needs to be better for the Spurs to beat the Rockets
Aldridge played poorly on both ends in blowout loss.
Soobum Im-USA TODAY Sports
A brutal showing from LaMarcus Aldridge made it impossible for the Spurs to climb out of the hole that kept growing deeper. His all-around night was truly disappointing.
The Spurs’ second-leading scorer total just four points and grabbed six rebounds. At times he looked unplayable altogether.
Aldridge struggled mightily on the defensive end
With slow foot speed, and sometimes even limited interest, Rockets guards were able to blow right past Aldridge off the dribble. He wasn’t the only guilty Spur, but his defensive mistakes were often egregious, and costly.
He went a minus-31 in the first half. He finished as a minus-36 in 25 minutes.
Partly because of his poor night defending the rim, Clint Capela exploded for a 20-point, 13-rebound double-double.
Aldridge couldn’t score either
Aldridge was brought in to score, and with Tim Duncan gone, he needs to be Kawhi Leonard’s second option. He wasn’t.
He made just 2-of-7 shots from the field and turned the ball over two times.
He was visibly uncomfortable backing the ball into the paint, and in his pursuit to establish position, had the ball knocked out of his hands a number of times.
His shots were often spent fading from the hoop, and he failed to establish any sort of rhythm. That led him to pass up a number of shots he usually takes, which made the Rockets’ job that much easier.
(note Aldridge’s inability to keep Harden in front of him on the other end)
Houston spent the night helping on both Leonard and Aldridge while abandoning the Spurs’ weak shooters. It worked, and Houston consistently turned strong defensive possessions into easy fastbreaks going the other way.
This was probably the best Houston is going to play
It’s unlikely the Spurs are blown out quite like this again in this series, as the Rockets peaked scoring and defending. They shot 44 percent from behind the arc, sinking 22-of-50 attempts.
But San Antonio doesn’t stand a chance if Aldridge doesn’t step up his game.
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