Wednesday, November 09, 2005
Everything's Bigger in Texas

The Houston Rockets, who visit SBC Center on Thursday, were considered by most experts to be the Spurs' primary challenger in the Southwest Division after they acquired Stromile Swift and Derek Anderson in the summer. But Tracy McGrady's back injury has hurt Houston in the first two weeks of the season, and the Rockets remain under .500.

McGrady returned to the Rockets' lineup Saturday after missing three games, and the Spurs wouldn't mind if he had to miss this one. They still recall McGrady's 13-points-in-35 seconds spurt that cost them a victory in Houston last season.

The Spurs should get at least one of their injured swing men back in action for this game. Michael Finley has missed the past four games with a strained groin. Brent Barry also missed the past four games, with a lower back strain.

Rasho Nesterovic remains the starting center and likely will start against Yao Ming, but he got a very quick hook from coach Gregg Popovich in Tuesday's game, playing only 10 minutes. That could portend a switch back to Nazr Mohammed, though Mohammed played only six minutes on Tuesday.

REPLAY: It was evident the Spurs weren't entirely motivated at the outset of their 103-79 victory over Atlanta on Tuesday. Although San Antonio jumped out to a 6-2 lead against one of the league's two remaining winless teams, that early margin served only to decrease their intensity even more. When Atlanta's Al Harrington caught fire in the first quarter, the Spurs had no answer for him.

Harrington made 10 of 15 shots in the first period and scored 22 in the quarter. By quarter's end, Popovich had yanked all of his starters, gong deep into his bench and giving Sean Marks and Melvin Sanders their earliest calls of the season.

There is no telling what the Hawks were thinking when the first period ended and they led the defending champions 31-18, but it must have been something along the lines of, "What are we doing here?" By halftime, they no longer were there. The Spurs had erased the 13-point lead, tied the score and found a way to control Harrington.

The Spurs dominated the final three quarters, outscoring the Hawks 85-48, as if to punish them for having embarrassed them briefly.

"We got a great boost from the bench play," Popovich said. "We came up with some combinations that worked for us. The team kept our composure well when we were down. They didn't try to come back quickly or one-on-one. The best part of the game was they kept their composure."


Posted at 11:36 am by spurstixtexas

 

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