Rockets at Spurs
The Houston Rockets are the only team to defeat San Antonio over the
past three-plus weeks and look to hand the Spurs their first home loss
of the season on Saturday. San Antonio is 19-0 at home this season and
has won 10 of its last 11 overall games with the loss coming against the
Rockets on Christmas Day.
The Spurs have won 28 consecutive home games dating back to last season and will be looking to give Houston a little payback from the recent 88-84 loss. "They pressured us," veteran guard Manu Ginobili told reporters. "They got us on our heels and we were not sharp enough." The Rockets dropped a 114-110 decision to the Golden State Warriors on Thursday and have allowed an average of 115 points during a three-game losing streak. "We've got to learn our lesson and be ready for the next one," center Dwight Howard said after the loss to the Warriors. "Hopefully, the new year will bring some wins for us and we've got to stay positive."
TV: 8:30 p.m. ET, ROOT (Houston), FSN Southwest (San Antonio)
ABOUT THE ROCKETS (16-18): Houston had won four of five games after beating the Spurs last week but has stumbled right back into its troublesome ways. The Rockets gave a good fight against Golden State before falling and wasted strong efforts from guard James Harden (30 points) and Howard (21 points, 13 rebounds, five assists, three blocked shots). "We're just inconsistent," Harden said afterward. "We played a pretty good game up until the end of the third quarter when they went on that (10-0) run. Just giving up small buckets like that to a really good team is something you couldn't really do."
ABOUT THE SPURS (28-6): San Antonio is the third Western Conference team to start 19-0 or better at home with the only better streaks belonging to the Portland Trail Blazers (26 in 1977-78) and Rockets (20 in 1985-86). The Spurs figure to keep rolling as power forward LaMarcus Aldridge gets more situated with his role, and he had 21 points and 12 rebounds in Wednesday's 112-79 thrashing of the Phoenix Suns. "I think the flow of the game was just different," Aldridge told reporters after his 10th double-double of the season. "I ended up getting some shots that were open and got a good rhythm going."
BUZZER BEATERS
1. The Spurs have won nine of the past 11 home meetings against the Rockets.
2. Harden is averaging 28 points over his last six contests.
3. San Antonio C Tim Duncan (knee) is expected to play after missing the past three games.