Spurs Travel To Houston, Look To Crack Rockets
The Rockets and Spurs meet Tuesday night in Houston.
The San Antonio Spurs travel to Space City Tuesday looking to solve the conundrum known as the Houston Rockets.
Tip-off at Toyota Center is scheduled for 8:00 p.m. ET.
Owner of the Association’s third-best record, San Antonio (33-11, 16-4 road) has twice found itself thwarted by the Rockets this season, most recently on Christmas Day.
No other Southwest Division team has recorded a success against Gregg Popovich’s side, which is 7-2 in division play.
Both of the Spurs’ losses to the Rockets came at AT&T Center in San Antonio. Popovich will hope that the Spurs fare better on the road. He may get his wish.
The road has been kind to San Antonio so far this season. The team boasts the league’s best record away from home (16-4), a record that is superior even to the Spurs’ home tally (17-7).
Houston (29-17, 18-7 home) meanwhile would love to assert its dominance over its division rival one more time.
The Rockets sit second in the division, five games back of the Spurs. That’s good enough for fifth-place in the Western Conference, which is where Kevin McHale’s side looks destined to finish before the season is out.
But James Harden, Dwight Howard and Co. would love to climb the standings and earn home court advantage for the first round of the playoffs at least. It will take marquee wins to get to that position. Another win over the Spurs would have to be considered a marquee win.
The Rockets enter the game following a disappointing home-and-home stand against the Memphis Grizzlies.
The Grizzlies handed the Rockets defeats on Friday and Saturday, ending Houston’s stretch of eight wins in 10 games. Houston will now look to prevent its first three-game losing streak of the season.
San Antonio also enters the game looking to return to winning ways. The Spurs were soundly beaten by the Miami Heat in Sunday’s NBA Finals rematch down in South Beach.
The Spurs have dropped three of their last five. A loss on Tuesday would mark the first time the team has dropped consecutive games this season.
Much of San Antonio’s recent struggles come as a result of injuries. The side will be without Danny Green (hand), Kawhi Leonard (hand) and Tiago Splitter (shoulder), three of its strongest defenders, when it takes to the court in Houston.
Houston has its own injury issues, and will be without Omer Asik (thigh) and Francisco Garcia (knee), while Ronnie Brewer (calf) and Greg Smith (knee) are listed as day-to-day. Those injuries don’t have quite the impact the Spurs face though.
San Antonio Spurs vs. Houston Rockets odds for 01/28/2014
Houston opened as a narrow home favorite over the Spurs, thanks mainly to the team’s earlier wins this season.
As well as picking up those road wins, Houston has also taken four of the last five meetings with San Antonio played at Toyota Center.
The spread opened at 2.5 but has slipped as low as 1.5 with some sportsbooks. Expect more movement before the game tips off.
Houston (22-21-3 ATS) is just in the black when it comes to covering the spread, while San Antonio (22-22-0 ATS) has evenly split the cover.
Houston is 12-11-2 ATS at home while San Antonio is 12-8-0 ATS on the road.
Houston is 18-17-2 ATS as the favorite while San Antonio is 1-2-0 ATS as an underdog.
Houston has covered the spread in four of its last five home games against the Spurs.
The spread opened at 211 and has climbed to 212 thanks to some early movement.
San Antonio (26-18-0) has favored the over this season while Houston (20-24-2) has favored the under.
The total has gone over in five of San Antonio’s last seven visits to Houston.
After Tuesday’s game, the Spurs and Rockets will meet once more this regular season, an April 14 matchup in Houston.
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