Rockets Blast Past Spurs, 127-100, for Second Straight Win
Spreading the Wealth. Interior Domination. Leaving Texas.
For seemingly the first time all season, the Rockets won a game with relative ease, defeating the San Antonio Spurs, 127-100, on Wednesday night. A balanced attack led Houston’s domination over their Texas rivals. Fred VanVleet had his best game of the season, scoring 21 points on near-perfect 10-for-11 shooting. Jalen Green added 21 points as well for the Rockets, including 4 three pointers. Houston had seven players score in double-figures. All of the starters scored at least 10 points, and Tari Eason added a dozen, while Jock Landale chipped in 11 points off the bench.
Overall, the Rockets had 14 different guys see court time, with a dozen Houston players scoring at least 2 points. Most of the Houston’s games will be against better teams than these Spurs, so box scores like these will likely be rare. But if Head Coach Ime Udoka can get contributions from everyone on his squad, and maximize the Rockets’ depth potential, Houston will be a dangerous threat to upset people’s expectations in the Western Conference.
The Rockets dominated this game inside, outscoring the Spurs 66-46 in the paint. Despite Victor Wembanyama’s size, he hasn’t posed much of a problem for Houston in the early start to his career. Alperen Sengun didn’t have an incredible game, but he didn’t need to have a dominant performance. Sengun made his physical presence felt against Wembanyama, who was held to only 15 points in the matchup. The Spurs also had a balanced attack, albeit less powerful than the Rockets. San Antonio had six players reach double-figure scoring, but only two of those guys scored more than 10 points. In Houston, the Spurs were no match for a much better Rockets team who made quick and easy work of their I-10 Rivals. This game was the third meeting between these teams in Houston’s first eight games. These Texas foes won’t square off again until late February back here in H-Town at Toyota Center. The Rockets have tougher tasks ahead, as they prepare for a quick two-game road-trip.
Houston will now leave the state of Texas for the first time all season. All three of the Rockets road games have been in Texas so far, with two coming in San Antonio against these Spurs, and the other resulting in Houston’s best win of the season last week in Dallas. Up next the Rockets will face by far their toughest challenge of the season yet, as they travel to face the Oklahoma City Thunder on Friday night. The squad needs to rest up, as there will be no relative ease in beating this OKC team in their house.