Kevin Martin & Kyle Lowry star as Houston Rockets romp to a 105-85 win over San Antonio Spurs: NBA
On a night when the San Antonio Spurs struggled to hit shots, the Houston Rockets, especially Kevin Martin found his range. The shooting guard went 10 of 17, including 4 of 8 from distance, for 25 points as the Rockets thumped
the Spurs 105-85.
Luis Scola chipped in with 18 points while Kyle Lowry took three quarters to post 16 points, 9 rebounds and 8 assists. He was however not bothered by missing only his second career triple-double because of Coach Kevin McHale’s
decision to play the reserves in the fourth.
"We've got a chance to get some home wins, and that's what we've got to do," Lowry said. "We've got to go out there and get the wins we need to get."
The Spurs playing their third game in four days looked tired and were dreadful from the floor in the first half. They missed 9 of their 10 shots in the initial quarter and then took their wayward shooting to a new level by clanging
15 of the first 17 shots at the rim. Their last slump cost them big as the Rockets pulled off a decisive 23-6 run to end the second quarter, 53-35, and never looked back again. Early in the fourth, they reeled off a 7 – 0 run and took their advantage to 86-61,
the biggest of the game in which the Rockets never trailed.
Manu Ginobili, the Spurs guard who managed 8 points on 4 of 8 was disappointed with the performance his team showcased, especially after winning the first two game convincingly;
"It's a typical case of regression to the mean. We played extremely good the first two games ... and today we were below expectations. ... We just mentally were not here. ... They just killed us. You got to be smart sometimes and
just let it go."
The Spurs finished the night on a 37.6 field goal percentage that included a 2 of 17 effort from the long range. They were led by DeJuan Blair, who scored a 22-12 point-rebounds double-double and a 10 point, 11 boards performance
from Tiago Splitter. Point guard Tony Parker also had 12 points, but took 16 shots to achieve that.
After the game, Parker admitted that on the night, Houston was the better team on the court;
"Houston played better than we did," Parker said. "They shot the ball and defensively, had a good game plan."
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