The Rockets lost 99-111 against the Spurs tonight at Houston’s Toyota Center, just days after beating them 111-106. It seems the Spurs made the required adjustments from last week to now get their revenge on the Rockets, coming back from a 16-point deficit to beat them, just as they did a week ago.
After the game, Kevin Durant spoke to the media at the press conference and credited Victor Wembanyama and the Spurs for making the required adjustments down the stretch. The Rockets lost their entire lead near the end of the third quarter before the Spurs took over in the fourth, but Durant doesn’t blame that stretch for the loss.
“It doesn’t matter if I touch the ball, to be honest cause everybody here can score. It shouldn’t be about me touching the ball every possession. I definitely want to get the ball and be aggressive, but I felt like we were in a good rhythm throughout the whole game.”
“So, I’m not going try to force it. But yeah, I wouldn’t say that was the reason why we lost,” said Durant. When asked about how the Rockets can respond to defenses like the Spurs’ tonight, Durant scrutinized their offense a bit further.
“Still move the ball. Don’t get bogged down, and try to iso or tactic or attack your head on, just kind of some misdirection. Keep our offense flowing, you know. I think he [Wembanyama] was just sitting in the paint, and they were denying everywhere else. And so it was like a one-man zone, just kept it moving.”
“Feel like we still got shots up though. We shot 17 more shots than them. Feel like we rushed a few because of the pressure, but we’ll watch film and figure out specifically how we need to beat stuff like that,” said Durant confidently on how the Rockets plan to bounce back from this loss.
Just last week, Durant pointed out Wembanyama’s weakness and gave him advice on how he should focus on dominating inside the paint instead of floating on the perimeter looking for shots. And that’s exactly what he did tonight.
The French star finished the game by stuffing the box score with 28 points, 16 rebounds, three assists, two steals, and five blocks while shooting 8-15 from the floor (53.3 FG%) and 12-15 from the free-throw line (80.0 FT%).
“Yeah, I mean, he tried to get to the free-throw line tonight. You know, he’s putting his head down, trying to get to his spots,” said Durant while talking about the challenges of guarding Wembanyama tonight.
“We fouled him sometimes, and sometimes the refs guessed on a few of them and made their decisions, but he just tried to put his head down and force himself to the rim or to the free-throw line, and that got him going.”
“And took away our aggressiveness a little bit on them, our physicality, but when you’re 7’5, and you’re forcing your way to the rim, sometimes you’re going to get some fouls,” Durant conceded.
“But, got to give them credit. They came out here, had a game plan they wanted to stick to after getting hit in the mouth early,” said the 37-year-old Rockets star in conclusion.
Kevin Durant finished the game with 24 points, six assists, and two rebounds while shooting 8-17 from the field (47.1 FG%) and 2-4 from the three-point line.
The Rockets’ offense got too reliant on Durant down the stretch, and when Stephon Castle had him locked down in the fourth quarter, the Rockets’ offensive struggles became more evident. They ended up scoring only 13 points and were outscored by 14 points in the fourth quarter alone.
At a time when Wembanyama had locked down the paint, the Rockets needed to stretch the floor and shoot better from range. This is where Amen Thompson and Alperen Sengun’s hands were tied, and they got forced to take shots that may not be in their best spots.
Last week, it was Reed Sheppard’s outburst in the fourth quarter that inspired a 16-point comeback. They need to work on their floor spacing if they want to avoid such a defeat in the future.
The Rockets fell to 28-17 following this loss and will face the Hawks on the second night of a back-to-back set of games in Atlanta tomorrow. Meanwhile, the Spurs have improved to 32-15 and will head to Charlotte to face the Hornets on Saturday, January 31.
