Rockets for real

SAN ANTONIO – Houston rolled to its fifth straight preseason win, bowling over the hometown Spurs, 109-92, at the AT&T Center here Thursday night and virtually mocked a poll of the NBA’s general managers who chose six teams to dispute the championship this campaign.

In a survey of 30 general managers, Miami was the overwhelming pick to capture a third straight title, garnering 75.9 percent of the ballots. Indiana and San Antonio were tied for second place with 6.9 percent apiece. Chicago, the Los Angeles Clippers and Oklahoma City were the only other teams to receive title votes.

While the Rockets were snubbed in the selection of top contenders, they were singled out as the team with the best offseason upgrade as center Dwight Howard got the nod as the player to make the most impact in a new uniform. 

Houston opened its preseason schedule with a 116-115 loss to New Orleans last Oct. 5. Then the Rockets crushed Indiana, 116-96, at the Mall of Asia Arena, repeated over the Pacers, 107-98, in Taipei, downed Orlando, 108-104, outlasted Dallas, 100-95 and picked San Antonio apart bit by bit before a disappointed Spurs crowd of 16,247.

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The Spurs played without starter Kawhi Leonard and sixth man Manu Ginobili who are integral parts of coach Gregg Popovich’s rotation. Sitting out the action with the Rockets were Robert Covington, Terrence Jones, Troy Daniels, Reggie Williams and Marcus Camby. Houston stepped all over the Spurs inside the paint with a 46-30 point advantage and shot .449 from the floor compared to San Antonio’s .398. The Rockets sizzled from three-point distance, burying 13-of-38 to the Spurs’ 7-of-18. 

San Antonio got off to a slow start and missed its first five attempts before Tiago Splitter scored on a put-back. Houston went on top, 7-2, then the Spurs roared back to open a four-point cushion, 18-14. Tony Parker tied it, 47-all, to start the second half but the Rockets wouldn’t give an inch and surged to its first double-figure lead, 64-53, midway the third period. Omri Casspi’s triple bloated Houston’s lead to 22, 81-59 but San Antonio cut the deficit to 10, 86-76 on Jeff Ayres’ two free throws early in the fourth. Popovich chose to bench Tim Duncan, Parker and Splitter in the payoff quarter as the Spurs tested new combinations, including point guards Patty Mills and Cory Joseph together on the floor.

McHale also rested Howard, James Harden and Jeremy Lin down the stretch. He fielded Donatas Motiejunas, Greg Smith, Isaiah Canaan, Aaron Brooks and Ronnie Brewer in the fourth quarter even if none had played the previous three periods. Smith’s dunk off an inbounds pass stretched the lead to 21, 109-88, with time down to about two minutes. Spurs reserve Aron Baynes, an Australian, ended the scoring with back-to-back baskets.

The Rockets broke it open in the third, firing five triples. Harden and Howard combined for 24 of Houston’s 37 points in the quarter. Harden finished with 22 points. Chandler Parsons and Casspi netted 16 each. Howard compiled 15 points and 16 rebounds. Jeremy Lin scored 11. Houston had 27 assists to 13 turnovers, indicating high efficiency on the court.

Duncan, 37, showed his age as he couldn’t stop Omer Asik at the four spot or Howard at the five. He was content to jack up jumpers from the perimeter and never attacked the basket. Obviously, Duncan tried to lure either Asik or Howard, depending on the matchup, away from under the goal. But to make a convincing argument for the defense to step out, Duncan had to be a consistent perimeter threat. In the game against the Rockets, Duncan struggled miserably and shot only 2-of-12 from the field in 23:15 minutes.

Even as he has slowed down, Duncan isn’t considering retirement at the moment. At the Spurs practice facility, he’s the only player to use The Gun – a shooting contraption that spits out balls from a cylinder to a shooter who has to throw an arching shot to escape the high protective net around the basket. He works as hard as his teammates because that’s the only way Popovich knows how to win.

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What makes Houston a force to reckon with in the NBA this season is its frightening depth. McHale has 18 players in his roster and will trim it to the required 15-man lineup when the season begins. Five  Rockets who are 6-10 and over are 7-0 Asik, 6-10 Smith, 6-11 Howard, 7-0 Donatas Motiejunas and 6-11 Camby. Against the Spurs, the Houston starters were 6-9 Parsons, Howard, Asik,  6-5 Harden and 6-1 Patrick Beverley.  The second unit included Lin, 6-7 Francisco Garcia, 6-9 Casspi and Motiejunas.

McHale deployed 13 players, including seven who logged at least 23 minutes. Popovich sent in 12 but only one Spur, Boris Diaw, saw action for at least 27 minutes.  The Rockets were out to make a statement and played to win. San Antonio probably couldn’t care less whether the Spurs won or not because it was just a preseason exhibition. But you can be sure Popovich will be pounding the Spurs to win when San Antonio hosts Memphis in their season opener on Oct. 31. 

Unlike in last season where the Spurs made it all the way to the Last Dance, San Antonio may not advance too far this year with Duncan unable to dominate as before. Lindy’s Pro Basketball Yearbook disagreed and chose San Antonio to dethrone Miami. In its own forecast, Rotoworld Basketball picked the Heat over Oklahoma City in the Finals. It could be a wire-to-wire climax this year with the Finals format restored to the 2-2-1-1-1 from 2-3-2 since 1985.