The sluggish Houston Rockets take on the dominant San Antonio Spurs Friday night at 8:30 p.m. EST.
After losing its first two meetings with the Spurs earlier this year, the Rockets are aching for a win. During the teams' first match up Dec. 7, San Antonio recorded a 114-92 blowout. However, things were much closer their second meeting.
In spite of Houston missing James Harden Dec. 10, the Rockets were able to take the Spurs into overtime thanks to point guard Jeremy Lin's 38 points and seven assists. And Lin had plenty of help from the rest of his team: Omer Asik scored 21 points, Chandler Parsons racked up 20, and Toney Douglas pitched in 17.
Considering how things went down in the teams' last meeting tonight could prove to be a breakthrough for the hungry Rockets. The team was able to compete on the same level as the veteran Spurs without the use of its star scorer and playmaker Haden; with him back, the sky could be the limit tonight.
Since Harden's been back with the Rockets, Houston (16-12) has won seven of eight games and five in a row. And those last five victories came by an average of 17.2 points with Houston shooting 51.5 percent from the field. With Houston and San Antonio ranked first and second in points per game at 105.3 and 104.9, respectively, we'd bet on tonight's game being another high scoring match.
Houston's last win over Minnesota at 87-84 came a much closer margin, and broke a string of three straight victories by 22 or more points.
"We were kind of sluggish throughout the game," said Harden. "We stuck with it for four quarters. Every game we're not going to score the ball, we're not going to make shots every single game. In different games you have to grind it out and try to force a win."
Harden is among the league's highest scoring players, averaging 29.6 points during the five-game winning streak. Not to mention he's a beast to cover in final minutes of games; 17 of his 30 points against the Timberwolves came in the fourth quarter alone. Harden converted three driving lay-ups in the final 2:14.
"When he's playing downhill on you, he's just a monster at that. He's coming at you," Houston coach Kevin McHale said. "It's just so hard to defend."
The Spurs (22-8) are more than ready for a high scoring match, though. The team ranks fifth in the NBA over the last three seasons at overall points, scoring an average of 102.8 points per game. Plus, with San Antonio aiming for their first title since the 2006-07 season, Tony Parker said the team has made defense even more of a priority.
"We want to be in the top five for everything defensively," said Parker, who leads the Spurs with 18.8 points and 7.2 assists per game. "We know if you want to win a championship, you have to be in the top five."
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