# Game 54: Houston Rockets @ San Antonio Spurs



## KokoTheMonkey (Aug 4, 2003)

* February 23rd, 2005 - 8:00 PM (Central Time)*


*Houston Rockets (32-22)* @ *San Antonio Spurs (41-12) * 




Previous Meetings:

Rockets 81, Spurs 80 
Rockets 73, Spurs 67 




*Projected Starting Lineups: *













































































*Reserves:*
































































Huge game for the Spurs. Huge huge game. Houston has owned us twice this season, limiting us to an average of 74 PPG. :sour:


It will be interesting to see how our guys respond to the rest over the All-Star break. If the intensity is lacking, we will lose again, and I will be pissed off again. Duncan has to step up and play some ball for crying out loud. He's played terrible in both games against Houston, and hopefully he's rested and ready to kick some ***. This is also a big game because it will give us cushion on Phoenix if we win. I'll be going to this game, and I can say I'm extremely excited. We're rested, and I think we'll be motivated to win this game. If we're not motivated, Houston will be dancing all over our faces again.



Prediction: Spurs 87, Rockets 82



Duncan - 21 points 13 boards
Manu - 14 points 3 assists 5 rebounds
Parker - 16 points 6 assists



T-Mac - 28 points
Yao - 21 points 9 rebounds


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## Yao Mania (Aug 4, 2003)

Spurs will win, thus ending our 9 game winning streak (yes we will win tomorrow!)
I expect the Spurs to be back in championship form after the break.


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## texan (Jul 10, 2003)

This is really a big game for us. Not only to add cushion to our lead over Phoenix, but we also need to get over the pyschological edge Houston has on us. They have beaten us, pretty badly, both times we have played them. They controlled the tempo the whole game in one game, and in the other pulled out a miraculous defeat leaving us stunned.This is a very big game both psychologically and standing-wise. Hopefully we come back focus on basketball and with rejuvenated spirts. TD, Parker and Manu will all need to have marginally good games for us to win, and we better bring it.

Prediction:
Spurs- 94
Rockets- 85

TD- 18 points, 12 rebounds, 4 blocks
Parker- 24 points, 8 assists

McGrady- 33 points, 5 rebounds, 5 assists
Yao- 16 points, 8 rebounds


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## FreeMason Jr. (Jul 12, 2004)

Finally! That week was horror! Spurs better win one for me! :biggrin: 

Should be a good game.

Spurs-91
Houston-86


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## KokoTheMonkey (Aug 4, 2003)

Houston has a game tonight against Seattle (In Houston) so they have back-to-back games. That should work in our favor.


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## KokoTheMonkey (Aug 4, 2003)

Bob Sura will miss the game tomorrow, and possibly many more games with a bad back. Houston has Rod Strickland and Andre Barrett to replace him. Again, this helps our chances.


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## FreeMason Jr. (Jul 12, 2004)

Going to the game! :biggrin: first one this season, hopefully not the last


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## rocketsthathavespurs (Jul 17, 2004)

um spurs 87 rox 76


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## KokoTheMonkey (Aug 4, 2003)

ezealen said:


> Going to the game! :biggrin: first one this season, hopefully not the last


 Really? Where you sitting at? 



I don't even know where I'm sitting at yet, but it's usually on one of the corners (Upper level of course)


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## texan (Jul 10, 2003)

TD with his first field goal half way into the first quarter. We have been playing good defense so far, but so have they. Back-to back shot clock violations show what the tempo of this game will be.


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## Drewbs (Feb 16, 2004)

Tim Duncan facing up and taking it to the basket on Yao. can he be stopped?


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## texan (Jul 10, 2003)

TD was pretty much dominating the 3rd quarter but we were still behind most of the quarter. We made a little run at the end of the third quarter and are now up 5. TP, and Bowen in particular have been playing with a lot of energy and its really helping us out. 

Also, TD has played more aggressive than he has all season. I love the tech he picked up. We needed that. He is fired up right now and really playing intense. Its vintage Duncan babay :yes:


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## texan (Jul 10, 2003)

Our guards have come up big for us defensively. It seems like we just got steal after steal for a minute or 2 straight.


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## texan (Jul 10, 2003)

This is a BIG win for us, and we earned it. TD played fabulous as did Tony. I had to do homework as I watched the game, so I didn't get to pay attention as well as I would have liked, but I thought we played good D, especially in the 2nd half. We played good on offense in spurts, but I was especially happy with how we hustled for loose balls, and rebounds. Good win for us.


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## KokoTheMonkey (Aug 4, 2003)

I didn't end up going to the game afterall, and I was so pissed about the way we were playing I didn't get on the computer during the game.




Duncan was great tonight. Boy do I hope he keeps playing like that. Parker was great tonight. How about is freakin dunk? That was one of the most exciting moments of the season. I liked the way Rasho played tonight despite his foul trouble. I screamed and screamed at Manu for most of the game, but he finished with a decent game overall. The bench was good enough for the win, obviously. Oh, I'm sorry, but I'm worn out on Massenburg. He absolutely killed us out there. I'd rather have Sean Marks on the floor than Massenburg. 



37 minutes for Duncan, 39 minutes for Parker. Thank you Popovich for going out and trying to win this game.


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## KokoTheMonkey (Aug 4, 2003)

San Antonio Leaders:


Points:


Tim Duncan - 30
Tony Parker - 22
Manu Ginobili - 18


Rebounds:


Tim Duncan - 11
Tony Massenburg - 8
Bruce Bowen - 4
Malik Rose - 4





The trio combined for 70 of 99 points.  That's basically 70% of the total points out of our trio.


Assists:


Tony Parker - 6
Devin Brown - 5
Tim Duncan - 3


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## KokoTheMonkey (Aug 4, 2003)

More notes: T-Mac was 7/21 from the field. Great defense by the Spurs. He shut him down and the rest was history.



Barry actually came off the bench as the backup PG tonight......they were saying Beno was worn out from all of the All-Star activities (Apparently he had tons of interviews and participated in about 4-5 different events including the Rook/Soph game).


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## KokoTheMonkey (Aug 4, 2003)

Daaaammmmnnnn.


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## XxMia_9xX (Oct 5, 2002)

double post


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## XxMia_9xX (Oct 5, 2002)

dude parker's dunk was awesome! parker was playing really well and that dunk was just an added bonus! i've seen him dunk before but not like that.... over-all great game, especially because the spurs won... duncan, manu were both really good!!! i'm glad i was able to watch it....

ps.....ohh yeah thanks koko... i figured this thing out. haha finally...


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## mr_french_basketball (Jul 3, 2003)

*my ratings*

Does someone have Tony's Dunk videoclip?!!!

NBA TV international sucks! They broadcasted a borring and shaqless "Indiana/Miami" game insteed of this one...

My ratings:
Duncan : 9/10
Parker : 9/10
Ginobili : 9/10
Nesterovic : 7/10
Rose : 6/10
Bowen : 5/10
Barry : 5/10
Brown : 5/10
Massenburg : 5/10


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## FreeMason Jr. (Jul 12, 2004)

Great second half, BIG win. Was that Duncan with another three?


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## FreeMason Jr. (Jul 12, 2004)

KokoTheMonkey said:


> Really? Where you sitting at?
> 
> 
> 
> I don't even know where I'm sitting at yet, but it's usually on one of the corners (Upper level of course)


Kinda late to reply, but I was up in 230. Bad seats, but it's better than nothing :biggrin: Sorry you didn't make it to the game. What happened?


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## KokoTheMonkey (Aug 4, 2003)

Well, it all had to do with parking. We took a wrong turn and ended up driving around for about an hour, so instead of getting into the game 30-45 minutes late, we just went home. We even got there at 7:30, but it was just a mess.


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## FreeMason Jr. (Jul 12, 2004)

sucks for you. We took a buss, and got there at like 7. And the game started late so we had to wait forever :curse:


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## KokoTheMonkey (Aug 4, 2003)

ezealen said:


> sucks for you. We took a buss, and got there at like 7. And the game started late so we had to wait forever :curse:


 I'm sure you had fun though, right? 



I haven't been to a game in about a month now. Oh well. I still enjoyed watching the Spurs finally beat Houston though no matter where I was watching it.


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## FreeMason Jr. (Jul 12, 2004)

KokoTheMonkey said:


> I'm sure you had fun though, right?
> 
> 
> 
> I haven't been to a game in about a month now. Oh well. I still enjoyed watching the Spurs finally beat Houston though no matter where I was watching it.


Yeah it was worth the wait. 

A month? That was the first time I saw them all season! Mite go see the Seattle game next month though.


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## KokoTheMonkey (Aug 4, 2003)

I've only been to about 6-7 games this year, pretty much one a month. It's the most I've ever attended Spurs games, mostly because I'm working now and because the SBC Center is 15 minutes (traffic accounted for) away from my house. 



SBC Center is a very cool place, but I find that leg space is a big problem.


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## FreeMason Jr. (Jul 12, 2004)

KokoTheMonkey said:


> I've only been to about 6-7 games this year, pretty much one a month. It's the most I've ever attended Spurs games, mostly because I'm working now and because the SBC Center is 15 minutes (traffic accounted for) away from my house.
> 
> 
> 
> SBC Center is a very cool place, but I find that leg space is a big problem.


Yeah. My legs were so soar after the game. But even from Section 230 I could see everything so clearly. That's pretty nice.


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