After the Houston Rockets Game 4 drubbing of the San Antonio Spurs, Spurs guard Patty Mills and head coach Gregg Popovich were in a virtual contest about who could better describe the failings of the Spurs defense. Pop said it was “defective” while Mills was more descriptive, saying what he saw in Game 4 was “them just driving straight past us.” That’s been the big problem in a nutshell for San Antonio — what Mills said was the Spurs “individual defense exposed.”
When the Rockets can drive all the way to the rim and/or kick, they’re hell to guard, as Coach Rockets chief Mike D’Antoni explained. “We did a great job of having patience with our drive-ins. Drive, kick, drive, kick, instead of just throwing up a quick floater, which is kind of what San Antonio wants you to do.” If you see the Rockets shooting those in-between floaters instead of layups and threes, you know that’s the Spurs’ exerting their will more than the Rockets. If it’s drive all the way in and kick for Houston, that’s the Rockets exposing the Spurs defense. Spurs-Rockets, Game 5, Tuesday 8pm on TNT.
