The Rockets had that game the NBA cognoscenti has been talking about for awhile and it happened at the worst possible time for the Spurs, who lost 126-99. The Rockets jumped out early, hitting 12 three’s in the first half and completely eviscerating the Spurs from the jump. The ball movement and speed the Rockets had simply made the Spurs bigs look as mobile as a home.
Kawhi Leonard was fine in the first half accumulating 12 points, 9 rebounds and 3 assists but he received little help. David Lee got yelled at not once, but twice. LaMarcus Aldridge refused to post up against Ryan Anderson, passed up open mid range jumpers, and looked defensively inept. Danny Green was a non factor in the first, going 0/4 while having more turnovers (3) than rebounds, assists and points combined (2).
All of this happened as the Rockets shooting was so good it elicited the use of a thousand fire emoji’s on Twitter. The 3 guard lineup of Patrick Beverley, Lou Williams, and Eric Gordon seemingly ended the game in the 2nd quarter, a +12 in just 4 minutes together on the court.
Not much changed after the first half, the Rockets kept the same intensity while the Spurs continued to look unrecognizable.The pick and roll defense was a mess, no one could shoot, and they made the Rockets look poetic in the beauty of their offensive execution.
The Rockets also made life very difficult for the Spurs standout forward, Kawhi Leonard. Constantly throwing 2 or 3 guys at him defensively, forcing him to give the ball up or shoot a largely contested shot. The one remaining critique from Kawhi detractors is his lack of passing ability. For at least one night, those people can gloat.
The Spurs on the defensive end need to look at how the Thunder defended the the Rockets pick and rolls. Staying on Ryan Anderson and on the players along the outside while letting Harden deep into the paint worked slightly for OKC. They should also look to play Dedmon more or possibly start Jonathon Simmons. These playoffs have been nothing but consistent adjustments to small ball. Simmons would be able to guard Ryan Anderson much better than the ill fated LaMarcus Aldridge or David Lee. He would also bring much needed speed to the Spurs, who ironically looked without horse power.
It would, of course, give Anderson an opportunity to feast on the boards, which he is actually quite capable of scarfing down. As an alternative, the Spurs could go small as the Rockets do. Something Popovich seemed hesitant of doing in Game 1, knowing his team can’t keep up with the Rockets offensively, but it may be enough defensively to thwart them.
If they went with a backup small ball lineup of say, Patty Mills, Danny Green, Jonathon Simmons, Kawhi Leonard, and a big, it would have a chance defensively to stop the extremely effective three guard lineup the Rockets trot out there in short spurts when Harden leaves the floor. At the very least they need better performances from the former big time free agent signing, LaMarcus Aldridge.
Aldridge mustered just 4 points on 2/7 shooting in 25 minutes and a giant -36 when on the court. They need him to attack the Rockets power forward effectively, no matter who they put out there. They will either be much smaller or much worse defensively.
One thing is for sure, the Rockets will never have a game like that again and the Spurs may never shoot below 37% in another playoff game for many years. However, after game one, it looked like the Spurs could have shot 57% and lost. It will be up to the genius of Gregg Popovich and the excellence of the team to prove that isn’t true.
