It’s time for Basketball: Spurs at Rockets

Welcome to the Game Thread. Veterans of the Game Thread know how we do things around here, but for all you newbies we have a few rules. Our community guidelines apply and basically say be cool, no personal attacks, don’t troll and don’t swear too much.

It you add up the wins from both teams in today’s contest, you end up with 30, which would put them in 11th place in the west, just behind the Pelicans, and completely out of the playoffs and play-in tournament. These teams aren’t just losing, they are overachieving at losing, and last night’s game saw the Spurs doing what they’re worst at at the peak of their abilities, failing to defend the normally inept Rockets as they dunked all over the porous Spurs defense.

Tonight should see the return of Devin Vassell to the lineup, and a possible return of Keldon Johnson and Malaki Branham. The height-challenged starting backcourt of Tre Jones and Devonte’ Graham last night was pretty good on offense, especially with Graham’s shooting, but they really struggled to defend Houston’s quick and long guards, and the game just got out of hand late as the Rockets won by 12. Alperen Sengun also had a good night against Zach Collins, who got fooled by the Turkish delight’s crafty moves around the basket. The Spurs will have to find a way to play more physically against the Rocket bigs without fouling, which might be a tall order. After tonight, the Spurs will either be one game from the worst record in the league, or three. In either case, they’re almost assured to be among the bottom three, which should maximize their chances for a top three pick.

Game Prediction:

In a blatant attempt at tanking, Jason Kidd will start Boban Marjanovic at point guard and he will play 40 minutes. The strategy will backfire as Boban records his first career triple double with 20 assists, 33 points and 11 rebounds.

One final word:

Go Spurs GOOOOOO!!

San Antonio Spurs at Houston Rockets
March 5, 2023 | 6:00 PM CT
Streaming: NBA League Pass
TV: Bally Sports SW SA

Reminder: It is against site policy to post links to illegal streams in the comments, but it is not against site policy to exchange email addresses, for instance.