{"id":6636,"date":"2017-05-12T15:36:04","date_gmt":"2017-05-12T19:36:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonprobasketball.com\/?p=6636"},"modified":"2017-05-12T15:36:04","modified_gmt":"2017-05-12T19:36:04","slug":"san-antonio-spurs-depth-defeat-houston-rockets","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2017\/05\/12\/san-antonio-spurs-depth-defeat-houston-rockets\/","title":{"rendered":"San Antonio Spurs&#8217; Depth Helps Defeat Houston Rockets"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The San Antonio Spurs convincingly crushed the Houston Rockets 114-75 in Game 6 of their playoff series. In doing so, the Spurs advance to face the juggernaut Golden State Warriors in the Western Conference Finals. Meanwhile, the Rockets are left to\u00a0scratch their heads trying to figure out how they let this golden opportunity slip away.<\/p>\n<h2><strong>San Antonio Spurs&#8217; Depth Helps Defeat Houston Rockets<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>The Rockets played by far their worst game of the season facing elimination. 75 was Houston&#8217;s lowest scoring output of the year. You may ask, what was their second-lowest? <em>92 points<\/em>.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Tonight was Houston&#39;s worst loss in Playoff history, &amp; their 9-37 (24.3%) 2P % was the worst percentage by any team in a game this season.<\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Adam (@AdamJoseph____) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/AdamJoseph____\/status\/862863845785690112?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">May 12, 2017<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>Houston&#8217;s 75 points were\u00a0the fewest\u00a0scored by the team in a playoff game since 2006.<\/p>\n<h3><strong>Spurs&#8217; Role Players Stepped Up<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>As the saying goes, &#8220;Father Time is undefeated.&#8221; With<strong> Pau Gasol<\/strong> and <strong>Manu Ginobili<\/strong> entering that phase of their careers,\u00a0they&#8217;ve still been able to contribute while fighting off &#8216;Father Time&#8217; valiantly at age 36 and 39, respectively. Gasol averaged 7.7 points, 8.5 rebounds, and 2.0 blocks per game in the series. Ginobili averaged just 6.2 points per game, a significant drop-off from his playoff average of 14.2. While\u00a0Ginobili isn&#8217;t quite the nifty player he once was, he still can turn back the clock when it matters most. <strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.sports-reference.com\/cbb\/search\/search.fcgi?pid=james-harden-1,james-harden-2&amp;search=James+Harden&amp;utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=direct&amp;utm_medium=linker-\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">James Harden<\/a><\/strong> found that out\u00a0first-hand\u00a0in <a href=\"http:\/\/www.nba.com\/video\/2017\/05\/09\/0041600235-hou-sas-play16\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">the closing moments of Game 5<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>With Gasol and Ginobili\u00a0pitching in, players like\u00a0<strong>Patty Mills\u00a0<\/strong>also stepped up. In the wake of\u00a0<strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.sports-reference.com\/cbb\/search\/search.fcgi?pid=tony-parker-1,tony-parker-2&amp;search=Tony+Parker&amp;utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=direct&amp;utm_medium=linker-\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Tony Parker<\/a><\/strong>&#8216;s injury, Mills averaged 14.7 points and 4.5 assists as a starter. Mills&#8217; efforts, along with those of\u00a0<strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.sports-reference.com\/cbb\/players\/danny-green-1.html?utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=direct&amp;utm_medium=linker-\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Danny Green<\/a><\/strong>,\u00a0<strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.sports-reference.com\/cbb\/players\/jonathon-simmons-1.html?utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=direct&amp;utm_medium=linker-\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Jonathon Simmons<\/a><\/strong>, and\u00a0<strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.sports-reference.com\/cbb\/players\/dejounte-murray-1.html?utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=direct&amp;utm_medium=linker-\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Dejounte Murray<\/a>\u00a0<\/strong>(in Game 6), all encompassed the Spurs&#8217; &#8216;next man up&#8217; mentality to a tee. As a result, they&#8217;re moving on to the next round.<\/p>\n<h3><strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.sports-reference.com\/cbb\/players\/lamarcus-aldridge-1.html?utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=direct&amp;utm_medium=linker-\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">LaMarcus Aldridge<\/a> Woke Up<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>With <strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.sports-reference.com\/cbb\/players\/kawhi-leonard-1.html?utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=direct&amp;utm_medium=linker-\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Kawhi Leonard<\/a><\/strong>\u00a0sitting out Game 6 with an ankle injury,\u00a0<strong>LaMarcus Aldridge\u00a0<\/strong>silenced doubters with a crucial 34-point, 12-rebound performance. Sure, Aldridge had some impressive scoring performances earlier in the series; none came close to his Game 6 outing, though. The power forward had a throwback performance that was reminiscent\u00a0of his days as the Portland Trail Blazers&#8217;\u00a0alpha dog, mixing in a combination of jumpers and drives all game long.<\/p>\n<p>Aldridge&#8217;s monster game helped the big man punch his first ticket to the Conference Finals in his 11-year career.<\/p>\n<h3><strong>Where Did James Harden Go?<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>Even without Leonard&#8217;s services, San Antonio made Houston look lost on both ends in Game 6. A large reason for that was the way they contained Harden. Harden shot just 2-for-11 from the field, finishing with 10 points. The Spurs did quite the job of containing Harden, considering he scored that low a point total just\u00a0<em>once<\/em> in the regular season and playoffs. Harden also turned the ball over nine times in Game 6.<\/p>\n<p>I mentioned in my <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonprobasketball.com\/2017\/04\/30\/san-antonio-spurs-vs-houston-rockets-preview\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">series preview<\/a>\u00a0that the Rockets would only go as far as their star shooting guard could take them, given that he&#8217;s the team&#8217;s primary ball handler and scorer.\u00a0The Spurs figured out how to shut him down. Once that happened, Houston&#8217;s role players couldn&#8217;t pick up the slack.<\/p>\n<p>It seems that Harden&#8217;s performance facing elimination isn&#8217;t exclusively a result of how the Spurs defended him. &#8216;The Beard&#8217; has struggled in the past when backed up against a wall.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">James Harden&#39;s elimination game stats aren&#39;t awesome. 23 points, 5 boards, 6 assists, 6 turnovers per game. Sub-40 percent shooting. <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/gdC4raMhWX\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">pic.twitter.com\/gdC4raMhWX<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Adam (@AdamJoseph____) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/AdamJoseph____\/status\/862873318243803136?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">May 12, 2017<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<h3><strong>Spurs&#8217; Defense<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>There&#8217;s a reason San Antonio had the top-ranked defense in the NBA during the regular season. Matching up against a more athletic, offensive-minded Rockets team didn&#8217;t phase the Spurs one bit. In fact, they thrived against Houston, holding the Rockets below 100 points\u00a0three times in six games.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Main Photo:<br \/>\nOKLAHOMA CITY, OK &#8211; OCTOBER 28: LaMarcus Aldridge #12 of the San Antonio Spurs posts up against Steven Adams #12 of the Oklahoma City Thunder during the first quarter of a NBA game at the Chesapeake Energy Center on October 28, 2015 in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, User is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. (Photo by J Pat Carter\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The San Antonio Spurs&#8217; depth proved too much for the Houston Rockets to handle, helping them win the series and move on to the Western Conference Finals.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1862,"featured_media":5046,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"1","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"558","footnotes":""},"categories":[34,2,31,62],"tags":[204,333,444,168,530,495,96,596,186,55],"class_list":["post-6636","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-spurs","category-featured","category-rockets","category-nba","tag-gregg-popovich","tag-houston-rockets","tag-james-harden","tag-kawhi-leonard","tag-manu-ginobili","tag-mike-dantoni","tag-nba","tag-nba-playoffs","tag-pau-gasol","tag-san-antonio-spurs"],"modified_by":"Lior Kozai (Managing Editor)","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6636","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1862"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6636"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6636\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5046"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6636"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6636"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6636"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}