On March 29, Beijing time, the Rockets lost to the Spurs at home 120:123, ending a two-game winning streak.
This is a game of great significance to both teams, before this game, the Spurs ranked 11th in the West, only 1 win away from the 10th Lakers in the West, if the Spurs win this game, will narrow the gap with the Lakers, is expected to squeeze into the ranks of the playoffs, and this game, for the Rockets, the meaning of losing is far better than winning, after two consecutive wins over the Blazers, the Rockets and Magic, Pistons wins have come to 20 wins, in the case of the Thunder's recent crazy loss, If the Rockets win, they are in jeopardy with the league's bottom 3 rankings.
One team must win the game, the other team loses is the best result, there was no suspense in the game, the two sides actually played a fierce game, in the final stage, the two teams presented a very anxious situation, rockets Kenjan Martin Jr. and Christopher hit three consecutive three-pointers, chasing the score, Murray consecutive free throws to help the Spurs to take a narrow lead, in the last shot Kenjan Martin Jr. three-pointers in the basket a few times, and finally popped out of the basket, the Rockets regrettably lost the game, the Rockets chased the score to chase the score , let the game that thought there was no suspense, and finally the suspense was reborn, which was extremely exciting and interesting.
In this game, the Rockets' three important rotation players are suspended, Wood has a left hamstring injury, Gordon has a sore right groin, and Schroeder has missed this game because of left button soreness, and in the case of the Rockets missing the playoffs, the purpose of the Rockets to train young players is clearer and more thorough.
With the Rockets' goal of training young players, the old Popovich dismantled the Rockets very thoroughly, and even if Wood was suspended due to injury, the Spurs could always find the Rockets' defensive flaws.
The Spurs started from attacking the Rockets' interior line, the Rockets' defensive focus on the inside line was not high, the inside rotation and co-defense did not do well, the Spurs frantically attacked the Rockets' inner line in the opening stage, in the league's worst defensive interior rankings, the Rockets did not have the lack of Wood, thereby improving the interior defense, Shen Jing's defense still has obvious problems, the Rockets team's interior defense problems are also obvious, on the one hand, they lost too many backcourt rebounds, the Rockets lost 17 backcourt rebounds, on the other hand, the Spurs easily cooperated, It can easily penetrate the rocket's internal defense line, and the rocket's internal communication and rotation are in urgent need of improvement.
And when the Rockets strengthened the interior defense, the Spurs began to make a fuss against Shen Jing, through blocking and demolition, Murray small to find big, against Shen Jing's footsteps are not fast, and the defense position is not good, with the middle distance to sanction Shen Jing's defense, while forming a misalignment, the Spurs' inner line against the Rockets' defenders are also misplaced, but also targeted by the Spurs many times.
Because of Shin kyung's extremely bad defense, Silas used Garuba for the first time, which is the first time ThatGaruba has entered the rotation this season, and the use of defensive tough player Garuba in the case of Silas's habit of using small lineups shows how dissatisfied Silas is with the defense on the inside.
From the rocket closing stage, Silas abandoned Shin Kyung and used the five small lineups of Tate + Martin + Porter + Green + Christopher, which is suitable for Silas to say that Shin Kyung suffered an injury, prompting the absence of the final stage, even if the final moment is replaced by Shin Kyung, Shin Kyung's defensive limitations may be infinitely magnified by Popovich.
In the case of extremely bad defense, the Rockets' scoring with the Spurs can be maintained all the time, mainly by offense, to be precise, the Rockets can rely on three points to maintain the score for the Spurs.
Spurs three-point shots of 29 shots 7, three-point shooting rate of 24.1%, Spurs defeated the Rockets' defense, mainly under the basket and mid-range shooting, then the Rockets maintain the point difference of the offensive way, mainly three-point line, the Rockets three-point shots 49 of 20, three-point shooting rate of 40.8%, not only three-point shooting, but also the game three-point shooting accurate, the Rockets all the players who appeared, there are three-point shots, of which Green hit 6 three-pointers, when the Rockets encountered a scoring drought, Green can stand up, Through personal ability to continue the score for the Rockets, and Christopher and Martin's two three-pointers at key moments, to reserve hope for the Rockets to catch up with the score, only Kevin Porter Jr.'s three-point shot, shooting timing and offensive choices seem unreasonable.
In this game, the purpose of the Rockets to train young players is very obvious, the veterans are all suspended, last year's 4 first-round shows appeared in the rotation lineup for the first time this season, the Rockets' defense still has a lot of criticism, but the enthusiasm of the players is improving, the awareness of supplementary defense and assisting defense is improving, the Rockets' overall defense is improving, from the offensive end of Shen Jing's passing and offensive choices, Green's stability, Christopher's offensive choices have improved, Garruba has also shown excellent defensive coverage, The Rockets in the game should not win, and finally regretted to lose the game, but the content of the game is still worth affirming, the Rockets' young players know how to play against the wind, how to face setbacks and pressure, this is the Rockets' most valuable game at the moment.