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Game Thread #16: at Rockets

By Wayne Vore (ATS)

The Spurs are riding a 4-game win streak into Rocketland. We have Manu AND Tony back and things are clicking.

Grab your rod, your tackle box, and your lucky hat. I expect to see some quality fish tonight. Come see what I've got in the tank.

Ptr_ambigram_white_on_black_medium
Game Time: 7:30
TV: ?? 		Officials: McCutcheon
Capers
Fraher

9-6
 Roger Mason
Roger Mason
Michael Finley
FinDog
Fabricio Oberto
Fab
Tim Duncan
Franchise
Bruce Bowen
Capt Spud


10-6

The Lover
Battier
YOWZA!
Non-Spur
Crazy Pills
images via espn.com
5-4 Home 3-3
4-2 Road 7-3
94.3 Offense 93.8
92.3 Defense 90.6
46.6 FG% 42.8
40.5 3-pt% 35.3
74.1 FT% 81.9
39.1 Rebounds 44.0
12.5 TO's 13.6
PG
SG
C
PF
SF
Bench
Coach
Intangibles
Winner

Keys To The Game:

  • McGrady - Will he play? He missed the Rockets loss to Indiana. If he's out, I think this favors the Spurs greatly because it means Bruce's minutes will be very limited which means we will have more offense on the floor.
  • Desperation - The Rockets lost a home game to the Pacers and have a couple days to stew on it. I think there is a chance they play with a greater sense of desperation.
  • The 4-Headed Monster - Tony/Manu/Mace/Cubits all scored very efficiently last night. How will the Rockets counter to slow them down?

Some other reading:

The Dream Shake is great. One, they tear up their team when it is appropriate. Two, they have a great message for Bill Simmons -- although I take exception to the thought that the Rockets are more of a contender than we are. Three, they love Scola and they don't troll our blog reminding us that we gave him to them.

Plus, you'll get to see a little Q&A with me.

Other things of possible interest:

I expect Pop to use a lot of small lineups with Udoka or FinDog at the 4. This would force Yao to cover Tim and Scola to patrol the perimeter. I like our chances with that matchup. It also means that in order to take advantage of it, the Rockets would have to run their offense through Scola instead of Yao and I'll take that to.

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