Don’t Count the Spurs Out

​3) Rockets shooting:

• Teams can live by the three and they can die by the three. The Rockets put on a fantastic shooting performance in Game 1 but can they repeat it?  The team by half time had hit over nine three-point shots and finished the game with 22 made shots from behind the arc—an amazing feat.  With that said, they took 50 shot attempts and shot only a decent 44% from three. If they plan on attempting that many threes on a regular basis that could play into the Spurs’ hands.

2) Spurs Defense:

• This is a Popovich team at the end of the day, so you can expect some defensive adjustments for Game 2. The first thing the Spurs will see from the game film is their lackadaisical attitude to start the 1st quarter which should not be a problem in Game 2. The Spurs responded well to being blowed-out by the Grizzlies in the last round, so you can expect the same resilience. The team led the league in defensive percentage, so don’t expect them to give up 126 again to the Rockets.

1)Aldrdige/Gasol:

• The Spurs tandem inside was nowhere to be found last game. Lamarcus Aldridge only has 4 points for the game and you can expect that he will look to improve that. He has been struggling offensively but he showed in the last series versus the Grizzlies that he can overcome his shooting slump with effort. He help clinch that series with an impressive 17 point/12 rebound performance, the Spurs are going to need that from him consistently in this series as well.