San Antonio Spurs: Takeaways after Game 1 loss against Rockets

Monday night, the San Antonio Spurs lost to the Houston Rockets, 126-99. Having lost home-court advantage, what do they need to take away from Game 1 going into Game 2?

It was ugly from the start. The San Antonio Spurs saw firsthand the Helter Skelter style and three-point barrage of this well-oiled Houston Rockets team. Remember, the Spurs have only played this team featuring Lou Williams once, and it was just his sixth game with Houston — one in which he played only 18 minutes.

Two minutes into the game, Spurs head coach Gregg Popovich called a timeout with the Rockets up 5-2 after a poor defensive switch left David Lee matched up with James Harden, who nailed a three. Two minutes later, with the game now 15-6, Pop called another timeout due to more defensive miscommunications. The Spurs did not look like themselves in this one — always one step behind the Rockets’ plays as opposed to one step ahead.

They saw a similar problem on the other end as they were not able to get into a rhythm offensively. Mike D’Antoni‘s defense was able to dictate everything the Spurs did.

Yes, you read that right.

Someone light a fire under LaMarcus Aldridge

In Game 1, LaMarcus Aldridge looked like the Monstars stole his powers. But instead of looking silly like Charles Barkley or Patrick Ewing, he just decided to not play. Multiple times he turned down open midrange jumpers to drive and kick and never even looked at the rim. Maybe someone should remind him that Ryan Anderson is not Draymond Green. Aldridge played 25 minutes Monday night and took just seven shots, making two of them.

After Game 6 in Memphis I wrote about how Alridge would welcome the Anderson matchup after dealing with Marc Gasol and Zach Randolph. Maybe he just hasn’t realized yet he should be owning this series. Whether it takes a video from Tim Duncan a la Kevin Garnett or Jonathon Simmons yelling, “EXPOSE HIM” whenever Anderson is on Aldridge in the post, someone has to get Aldridge to go to work.

Have to switch up the defense

The San Antonio Spurs struggled all Game 1 with their defensive rotations. They realized early on that they were going to need to start switching on screens. But doing this puts either Aldridge or Lee on Harden, which then turns into a game of “How you want it?” where Harden drives past the big for a layup, throws a lob to Clint Capela, or finds an open three.

This has been the issue with the Rockets all year. Offensively they are perhaps the toughest team to guard in the league. The problem was the Spurs players were not fully committing to their assignments.

On Harden drives, the back-line player would step up, but the help only half rotated to Capela because they were worried about the threes. Result: Capela easy bucket. Next time down Harden drives, and two Spurs players rotate to help instead of just one, leaving multiple shooters open. Each player needs to know what they are responsible for and trust that if they rotate, someone will take their place. If they fail to do this, there’s no hope.

Tweak some lineups

One game is usually no reason to change what you’ve done all year, but this isn’t their normal lineup. The lineup of Tony Parker, Danny Green, Kawhi Leonard, Aldridge and Lee was just their fourth most-used lineup in the regular season. Pop went to this lineup in Game 4 of the first round when Dewayne Dedmon was out with an illness.

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This Rockets series, though, is the right time to go back to him. Lee was the better matchup against the bruising big men in Memphis, but does not have the height to defend Capela. Dedmon’s length and energy would be a much better matchup against Capela.

We may also see some smaller lineups from San Antonio in Game 2, when the Rockets go to their bench they play with three guards, Nene and Trevor Ariza at the 4. This would be a good opportunity for the Spurs to bring in Patty Mills and Pau Gasol to go along with Parker, Green and Leonard. You could also substitute Manu Ginobili for Parker or Simmons for Green and still have good matchups defensively.

The main point is to not have two big men in the game when the Rockets only have one. It will make switching much easier and add some quickness to close out on shooters.

While some may feel this is letting the Rockets dictate what the Spurs do, it’s not. In fact, it is the exact opposite of that. Matching a smaller lineup with a smaller lineup would allow the Spurs to do what they want on defense, while not sacrificing much of anything on offense.

Try Again Next Time

The San Antonio Spurs are not going to win a shootout with the Houston Rockets. They just don’t have the personnel. What they have to do is get back to their game: making the smart defensive rotations and moving the ball on offense.

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Some tweaks in the rotation should help them do what they want on D. Then if they’re getting stops, they’ll feel more comfortable running their offense. If they do that, and LaMarcus Aldridge remembers why he’s making over $20 million this year, there is no reason the Spurs can’t make a run for the conference finals still.

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