# Regular Season Game 59 Thread: Houston Rockets vs. San Antonio Spurs



## Cornholio (Feb 13, 2005)

​*(36-22)/(40-18)*

When/Where:
*Saturday, March 3, 7:30 p.m.*
*Toyota Center*​












































*Alston / McGrady / Battier / Howard / Mutombo*














































*Parker / Barry / Bowen / Duncan / Elson*



*PREVIEW

Even when San Antonio wins, it's losing a race against time.

The Spurs go after their season-high eighth consecutive victory and again hope to gain ground in the Southwest Division as they open a four-game road trip against the Houston Rockets on Saturday night.

San Antonio (40-18) is in second place, nine games behind streaking Dallas - winners of a franchise-record 14 straight victories heading into its game later on Saturday. On Dec. 11, the Spurs were 16-6 and held a 1 1/2-game lead over the Mavericks, who have since reeled off 35 wins in 37 games to overtake San Antonio.

The Spurs, meanwhile, have gone 24-12 since then which is best record of any non-division leader in the league in that span.

San Antonio has lost four games in the standings to the Mavericks since the start of Dallas' most recent winning streak on Jan. 25, but they haven't lost any ground to the defending Western Conference champions since Feb. 13 while countering with a winning streak of their own.

That run reached seven games with Friday's 98-74 rout of Orlando, avenging a last-second defeat to the Magic on Feb. 9 in which they squandered a double-digit lead. Manu Ginobili made a season-high six 3-pointers - including one right before the end of the third quarter that gave the Spurs a 65-57 lead - and finished with 31 points, continuing his recent strong play.

"We're happy to get a win against these guys, after a really tough loss a couple of weeks ago,'' said Ginobili, who had 16 of his points in the third quarter. "(Coach Gregg Popovich) said we couldn't allow them to do it again."

The Argentinian-born guard is averaging 20.4 points, 4.7 rebounds and 4.7 assists during the winning streak, shooting 53.5 percent overall and 48.3 percent (14-for-29) from beyond the arc.

"It will be a different game," Ginobili said about playing the Rockets. "They're the best defensive team in the league."

San Antonio's other two options - forward Tim Duncan and point guard Tony Parker - also are making significant contributions during the winning streak. Duncan has recorded consecutive double-doubles and has averaged 19.3 points and 10.3 rebounds while shooting 60.2 percent from the floor, and Parker has averaged 16.3 points and 5.1 assists and has converted 51.0 percent of his shots.

Houston (36-22) avoided a three-game losing streak with a 108-97 win at Denver on Friday. Tracy McGrady scored 11 of his 28 points in a 1:54 span of the second quarter and Dikembe Mutombo had a season-high 22 rebounds for the Rockets, who had five players reach double figures and made 14 3-pointers.

"I had it rolling,'' said McGrady, who has scored at least 22 points in each of the last seven games he's played, averaging 29.7 points in that span. "I wanted to set the tone for my team and they followed.''

Mutombo, continuing to play extended minutes as starter at 41 years old while Yao Ming recovers from a fractured right tibia, became the oldest player in NBA history to pull down 20 rebounds in a game and has averaged 10.5 boards in 30 games as a starter.

"Mutombo getting 22 rebounds was huge,'' Rockets coach Jeff Van Gundy said. "That helped us win the rebounding battle. Lately we've been getting killed on the boards.''

The Rockets are going for their third consecutive win over the Spurs, having won the previous two at San Antonio. The only game Houston lost to San Antonio this season was the only game between the teams it had both McGrady and Yao together on the court.

McGrady had 37 points and eight rebounds as the Rockets built a 14-point fourth-quarter lead before holding off the Spurs for a 90-85 victory on Jan. 24.*

_*Next Games*_
vs.








vs.








vs.


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## LineOFire (Apr 20, 2004)

I wish Yao was playing but I'm sure the Spurs don't. Good luck.


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## Pimped Out (May 4, 2005)

this is 2 nights in a row i get to watch the rockets.

im so giddy


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## Dean the Master (Feb 19, 2006)

Bring it on San Antonio!


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## Dean the Master (Feb 19, 2006)

Hey,pimped out, where did all your points go?
We should carry to tempo from yesterday.


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## Pimped Out (May 4, 2005)

Dean the Master said:


> Hey,pimped out, where did all your points go?
> We should carry to tempo from yesterday.


in the SA game thread


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## Synergysportz (Feb 28, 2007)

We like Under for the game. GL


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## Synergysportz (Feb 28, 2007)

ds


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## hroz (Mar 4, 2006)

I think Hayes should start.

Despite the fact it makes for a Deke/Chuck all defensive no offensive combo, Hayes is most likely to be able to contain Duncan he should start.


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## kisstherim (Jul 15, 2004)

I heard Tony Parker will not play this game?


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## LineOFire (Apr 20, 2004)

kisstherim said:


> I heard Tony Parker will not play this game?


Where did you hear that? He played pretty badly yesterday but he never got injured.


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## AllEyezonTX (Nov 16, 2006)

Looking for a good game & hopefully another win. The home crowd deserves this one, after some of the losses we've taken at home recently.


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## Pimped Out (May 4, 2005)

hroz said:


> I think Hayes should start.
> 
> Despite the fact it makes for a Deke/Chuck all defensive no offensive combo, Hayes is most likely to be able to contain Duncan he should start.


deke should defend duncan when he is on the floor.


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## LineOFire (Apr 20, 2004)

kisstherim is correct. Just heard that Tony Parker is out with a hip strain.


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## kisstherim (Jul 15, 2004)

LineOFire said:


> kisstherim is correct. Just heard that Tony Parker is out with a hip strain.


:wink:


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## AllEyezonTX (Nov 16, 2006)

how about that screen on bowen?!? BANG


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## AllEyezonTX (Nov 16, 2006)

early foul on bowen....


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## AllEyezonTX (Nov 16, 2006)

horrible call on Deke'


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## kisstherim (Jul 15, 2004)

AllEyezonTX said:


> horrible call on Deke'


that call is just ridiculous, it's so clear from the slow motion replay that Deke didn't even touch Duncan, wtf


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## AllEyezonTX (Nov 16, 2006)

14-5 spurs...Duncan bringing it, tonight. Is Yao on the bench?


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## hroz (Mar 4, 2006)

TD is destroying us. Stopping or atleast slowing down TD is a huge part of beating the Spurs........


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## hroz (Mar 4, 2006)

Damn 10 points in below 5 minutes.

He keeps that rate up and ...................

TD 100 point night......


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## AllEyezonTX (Nov 16, 2006)

wow...it is ugly offense being played, mainly by Head. 22-10 spurs, Van Dummy teaches alston a lesson by not putting him in the game?


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## Pimped Out (May 4, 2005)

this is awful. everyone needs to donate their check to charity tonight, because they havent earned it


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## AllEyezonTX (Nov 16, 2006)

I think the play that upset Van was the 3 att. by alston when it was 3-5 spurs


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## Pimped Out (May 4, 2005)

chuck makes shaq's free throw motion look natural and smooth


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## AllEyezonTX (Nov 16, 2006)

that was Defense by Howard, that was dancing


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## Pimped Out (May 4, 2005)

head is just AWFUL tonight. put snyder in or something.


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## AllEyezonTX (Nov 16, 2006)

Pop keeps Udrich on the roster just to kill the Rockets


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## AllEyezonTX (Nov 16, 2006)

Pimped Out said:


> head is just AWFUL tonight. put snyder in or something.


He never looked this bad during his rookie year


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## hroz (Mar 4, 2006)

3TOs by Head............ in just the 1st Q.

Snyder needs game time......


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## OneBadLT123 (Oct 4, 2005)

wow, this sucks


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## hroz (Mar 4, 2006)

Can you spell blowout.........................


Damn how much are we gonna lose by is the question tonight.


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## AllEyezonTX (Nov 16, 2006)

other teams are taking it up a notch, why no intensity tonight?


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## OneBadLT123 (Oct 4, 2005)

So is this touch Duncan and get a foul night?


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## kisstherim (Jul 15, 2004)

Can Duncan ever stop whining? It's so obvious he fouled TMAC


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## kisstherim (Jul 15, 2004)

[email protected] flopper, the refs didn't give him a damn


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## hroz (Mar 4, 2006)




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## kisstherim (Jul 15, 2004)

V-Span 3 TOs already


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## Husstla (Nov 5, 2006)

Wow clutch...that must have been embarrassing


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## TiMVP2 (Jun 19, 2003)

haha all that complaining about the game and we blew yall out of da water


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## LineOFire (Apr 20, 2004)

MDIZZ said:


> haha all that complaining about the game and we blew yall out of da water


:thumbdown:


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## OneBadLT123 (Oct 4, 2005)

MDIZZ said:


> haha all that complaining about the game and we blew yall out of da water


Don't act like Houston didn't blow you guys out twice this year...

oh wait, we did


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## Yao Mania (Aug 4, 2003)

honestly I kinda expected a lost. Deke was exhausted from last night, and we just don't have the consistency right now in our offense. Rafer Alston is the worse starting PG in the NBA, either him or Eric Snow.


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## Yao Mania (Aug 4, 2003)

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/sports/4600555.html



> Beginning with a Rafer Alston turnover that saw him benched less than four minutes into the game, Alston shouted at Juwan Howard. Howard shouted at Alston, who began shouting at Gundy before Dikembe Mutombo began barking at Tracy McGrady, with McGrady going back at Mutombo and trainer Keith Jones rushing between them, if only to interrupt long enough to get something else accomplished with the timeout Van Gundy had called.
> 
> "I heard guys yelling at each other," McGrady said. "I was just trying to calm guys down. Dikembe was trying to stop me from calming everything down. I don't know what happened. But it was a bad time to go at each other's throats."


ohhhh boy.... lets hope everyone gets their head together for our next game, 'cuz this does not look good


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## Legend-Like (Mar 25, 2006)

Yao Mania said:


> http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/sports/4600555.html
> 
> 
> 
> ohhhh boy.... lets hope everyone gets their head together for our next game, 'cuz this does not look good


Nah I think they were just fatigued from last game at Denver.


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## TiMVP2 (Jun 19, 2003)

OneBadLT123 said:


> Don't act like Houston didn't blow you guys out twice this year...
> 
> oh wait, we did



it was almost 3 but who came back??


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## hroz (Mar 4, 2006)

MDIZZ said:


> it was almost 3 but who came back??


See you guys in the playoffs. You get Parker we get Yao back..........

See if TD can dominate with Yao taking his spot in the front court............


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