<font size="1"><font color="Blue">Note: Since these two teams played on Thursday night I am just going to post the same preview as the last game with a few corrections.</font></font> Houston (13-8) at San Antonio (14-10) 8:30 pm EST Head Coaches Jeff Van Gundy/Gregg Popovich Probable Starters Steve Francis/Tony Parker cuttino mobley/emanuel ginobili. Jim Jackson/Bruce Bowen kelvin cato/Tim Duncan Yao Ming/radoslav nesterovic Key Match-up kelvin Cato/Tim Duncan Rocket's Outlook by Dexter The key to tonight's game is defense. The most important person to stop is the reigning MVP, Tim Duncan. Tim Duncan is the focal point of the Spurs offense and lets face it, without him they are not a very good team. There is no way however that we will be able to stop Duncan completely. He will get his points, the key will be just to keep his points to a minimum. The Rockets didn't do a great job on Tuesday of limiting Zach Randolph's production. If Houston is not able to limit Duncan's production we will lose this game. The other key person the Rockets need to be concerned with is Manu Ginobili, who is having a good year averaging 14.5 points and 2 steals a game. Cuttino Mobley is having a great year, so it will be fun to watch these two go at it. The Rockets did a poor job in the last game against this team of defensive rebounding. It cost us the game in Houston with the Spurs. On offense, the Rockets must feed the ball to Yao from the start of the game till the final buzzer. Rasho is absolutely no match for Yao down low so at the start of the game, Yao should have an easy time on offense. Eventually they will double team him, which means wide open shots for our perimeter players. Cuttino Mobley is having a fantastic year shooting the ball. He is shooting over 45% from the field and 40% from the three point line. He will need to have a good game tonight. Overall the gameplan of the Rockets has four main parts; contain Tim Duncan, feed Yao the ball in the post, box out on defense and move the ball on offense. If they do this, we will win the game. Spurs Outlook by Allnet The key to the game for the Spurs will be keeping Cato and Ming off the glass.Try and give Yao the outside jumper.Keep him from dominating downlow.Guarding the shooters will also be a key part of this game.The spurs need to make sure players like Francis,Mobley,Jackson and Piatkowski don't get hot from outside.Making it as tough as possible for their big man to score inside will be a main focus.As when Cato and Ming score and rebound the basketball well they normally get the W.Spurs have always been known for great defense and lately that has certainly showed through.Giving up only 77 to the Blazers last night was impressive.Stopping the outside shooting while giving players like Randolph all he can handle inside. The Spurs key on offense will as always get the ball to Tim Duncan in the post.Let him go to work by getting the Rockets big men into foul trouble.Players like Bowen,Hedo,Manu,Parker and even Horry will need to hit their open shots consistantly.As Duncan will get double teamed at some stage.Tony Parker has been racking up the assists lately with two 10+ assists games.He will need to give up the ball again in this game for the Spurs to come away with the win.Also the play of Rasho nesterovic has been very good as of late.He is averaging 17 points 7 rebounds and 2 blocks in his last 4 games.The play of him will be very important when guarding Ming and making sure he gives Duncan some help at the other end. Dexter's Game Prediction After combining for the lowest points scored in a half in NBA History, both teams will look to score a lot tonight. Unlike the low scoring game of Thurday, I expect this game to be in the 80's. The Rockets are playing with a chip on their shoulder and I think they will pull this game out. I think the Rockets will win 86-82 tonight.
Spurs @ Rockets PREVIEW 2 Well, the score to the game today at the end of the first quarter is 21-8 with San Antonio up. Houston is playing horrible basketball.
The score is 27-19 with just over 7 minutes to go in the half. Tim Duncan has zero points however he has been a monster on the boards with 9 already. He also has 3 assists. Don't expect him to remain scoreless for long. Steve Francis has been limited to only 7 minutes because he is in foul trouble(3). Yao Ming leads to Rockets in scoring with 5, while Rasho Nesterovic leads all scoring with 10.
86-73 was the final.Rockets were never in this one.The fact Duncan struggled by shooting 2-10 and only had 8 points yet win by 13 Is a credit to the rest of the Spur players.Parker had 10 and 12 assists.3 other guys got in double fiqures.
Rockets never seem to do well against the better teams of the NBA, but at least we are beating the scrubs.
Allnet your right, the Rockets were never in this game. The Rockets just for some reason cannot win in SA. They have lost their last 12 playing in SA. drm2dnk, we have beaten a few good teams this year. It just seems that we never do to hot against other Texas teams. For some reason, it seems like we always lose to the Mavs and the Spurs.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting dexter:</div><div class="quote_post">Allnet your right, the Rockets were never in this game. The Rockets just for some reason cannot win in SA. They have lost their last 12 playing in SA. drm2dnk, we have beaten a few good teams this year. It just seems that we never do to hot against other Texas teams. For some reason, it seems like we always lose to the Mavs and the Spurs.</div> Yao's inconsistency this year has hurt the team badly. Last night he had only 8points despite 10 boards. I've also noticed his game has become more perimeter oriented. As for beating the Mavs, I think the time will come.
