The Houston Rockets were willing to take whatever the Spurs gave them in Game 1 of their Western Conference second-round series.
Houston ended up with a record-setting offensive performance, a huge boost in confidence and home-court advantage.
Trevor Ariza scored 23 points, while James Harden added 20 points and 14 rebounds as the Rockets stormed past San Antonio 126-99 on Monday night, the Spurs’ worst loss in a series opener under Gregg Popovich.
Photo: EPA
“Just taking what the defense gives us,” Harden said. “Last series [against Oklahoma City] was a more grind-it-out. We weren’t really making a lot of threes. We had to figure a way to get paint points and in this series so far they gave opportunities to shoot threes.”
The Rockets were 22 for 50 outside the arc, the most threes attempted and made against the Spurs in their long post-season history.
Houston had six players in double figures, including 20 points and 13 rebounds from Clint Capela.
“They came out ready, they outplayed us tonight,” said Spurs forward LaMarcus Aldridge, who was held to four points. “They made most of their shots. Guys competed, but I thought we made mistakes early. They took advantage of it. Once they had offensive rhythm they were rolling and we never really found ours.”
Houston led by as many as 39 points, including a 30-point lead in the first half, in the opener of the first series between the rivals since the Rockets’ victory in the 1995 Western Conference finals.
While the hot shooting was not completely unexpected from the explosive Rockets, the defense was. Houston were active in rotating to San Antonio’s shooters and had both defenders stay on Kawhi Leonard on screens.
Leonard had 21 points, fighting his way to five-for-14 shooting.
Tony Parker added 11 points and Jonathon Simmons had 10 for the Spurs.
“Obviously, we are really happy with our defense and what we did,” Rockets coach Mike D’Antoni said. “Knowing that this was kind of abnormal, they are not going to miss shots like that.”
Houston led 69-39 lead in the first half, the Spurs’ largest halftime deficit under Popovich.
“They came out hot tonight and we just have to do a better job defensively,” Leonard said. “We kind of got stagnant there a little bit. I give my hats to them, they played a great game.”
Popovich called a timeout 80 seconds into the game, berating David Lee for a missed defensive assignment that led to a three-pointer.
It did not help.
Houston hit 12 three-pointers in the first half, the most San Antonio have allowed to a playoff opponent in the opening two quarters.
Game 2 is to be played today in San Antonio.
Four-time NBA all-star DeMarcus Cousins arrived in Taiwan with his family early yesterday to finish his renewed contract with the Taiwan Beer Leopards in the T1 League. Cousins initially played a four-game contract with the Leopards in January. On March 18, the Taoyuan-based team announced that Cousins had renewed his contract. “Hi what’s up Leopard fans, I’m back. I’m excited to be back and can’t wait to join the team,” Cousins said in a video posted on the Leopard’s Facebook page. “Most of all, can’t wait to see you guys, the fans, next weekend. So make sure you come out and support the Beer
Revelations of positive doping tests for nearly two dozen Chinese swimmers that went unpunished sparked an intense flurry of accusations and legal threats between the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and the head of the US drug-fighting organization, who has long been one of WADA’s fiercest critics. WADA on Saturday said it was turning to legal counsel to address a statement released by US Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) CEO Travis Tygart, who said WADA and anti-doping authorities in China swept positive tests “under the carpet by failing to fairly and evenly follow the global rules that apply to everyone else in the world.” The
Taiwanese judoka Yang Yung-wei on Saturday won silver in the men’s under-60kg category at the Asian Judo Championships in Hong Kong. Nicknamed the “judo heartthrob” in Taiwan, the Olympic silver-medalist missed out on his first Asian Championships gold when he lost to Japanese judoka Taiki Nakamura in the finals. Yang defeated three opponents on Saturday to reach the final after receiving a bye through the round of 32. He first topped Laotian Soukphaxay Sithisane in the round of 16 with two seoi nage (over-the-shoulder throws), then ousted Indian Vijay Kumar Yadav in the quarter-finals with his signature ude hishigi sankaku gatame (triangular armlock). He
Rafael Nadal on Wednesday said the upcoming French Open would be the moment to “give everything and die” on the court after his comeback from injury in Barcelona was curtailed by Alex de Minaur. The 22-time Grand Slam title winner, back playing this week after three months on the sidelines, battled well, but eventually crumbled 7-5, 6-1 against the world No. 11 from Australia in the second round. Nadal, 37, who missed virtually all of last season, is hoping to compete at the French Open next month where he is the record 14-time champion. The Spaniard said the clash with De Minaur was