San Antonio Spurs young guns step up to defeat the Houston Rockets in high scoring game – NBA Recap
The San Antonio Spurs defeated the Houston Rockets in a high scoring preseason game here at the Toyota Center in Houston on Sunday night. The Spurs young guns once again stepped up to the challenge and handled business as the Spurs
veterans Tim Duncan, Tony Parker and Manu Ginobili all played less than 20 minutes each. It was a high scoring affair with 70 points being scored in the final period and the Spurs edging out a 116-107 victory in the end. Wesley Witherspoon scored a team high
17 points for the Spurs, going 6 of 9 from the field and 2 of 4 from three point range. DeJuan Blair was red hot for the night, finishing with 16 points and 6 rebounds in a little over 18 minutes of playing time, as he went 7 of 9 from the field. Danny Green
chipped in 15 points for the visiting Spurs, going 6 of 9 from the field as well. Donatas Motiejunas was the unlikely top scorer for the Rockets, finishing with 16 points and 8 rebounds. Omer Asik had another impressive outing with the Rockets, adding 13 points,
11 rebounds and 5 assists to the team tally. All in all, 14 players finished with double figure points for the night.
Both teams got off to a good start, finding their foot in the game early on. However, the Spurs kicked into fifth gear at the 5:30 mark, going on an 8-0 run to take a 20-10 lead early on. Another 7-0 run by the Spurs in the final
two minutes of the period gave them a 27-14 lead, before Terrence Jones hit a buzzer beating layup to have the Rockets trailing 16-27 at the end of the first period.
Houston came out firing in the second period and two layups by Greg Smith followed by a three pointer by Gary Forbes had the Spurs lead down to 34-28. The Spurs regained composure from that point onwards and kept a comfortable
lead over the Rockets throughout the second quarter. The Spurs led 52-44 at the half time break.
Back to back three pointers by Jeremy Lamb opened the third period for the Rockets, and Lamb then followed with a layup to lay claim to the first 8 points of the Rockets in the quarter. Chandler Parsons then joined the party by
nailing a three pointer and reducing the Spurs lead to 56-55 with 9 minutes remaining in the third period. The Spurs barely managed to keep the lead from there on for the rest of the third period, but a three point shot by Witherspoon followed by a driving
layup by Cory Joseph gave the Spurs an 82-71 lead heading into the final period. Houston failed to score in the final two minutes of the third quarter after dominating much of the early proceedings.
The final period brought about the most excitement, with a total of 70 points being scored in the 12 minutes alone. San Antonio started with an 11-4 run and extended their lead to 93-75. Houston responded with a 9-0 run to cut
the deficit back to 93-84. A three pointer by Scott Machado had the Rockets trailing 93-99 with 5:37 left in the game. However, a 6-0 run by the Spurs gave them a crucial 107-95 lead at a critical juncture in the game, as Motiejunas missed back to back shots.
From there on, the Spurs firmly held on to their lead and kept a comfortable margin between them and Houston, taking the game 116-107 in the end.
San Antonio short 52.9 percent from the field and were 15 of 21 from the foul line. Houston were 43.2 percent from the field and 20 of 27 from the foul line.
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