The San Antonio Spurs wiped away the hurt from their worst loss of the season with a dominating 130-99 win against the Houston Rockets on Wednesday to remain undefeated at home.
Forward LaMarcus Aldridge poured in 25 points and pulled down 10 rebounds to lead five San Antonio players who scored in double figures.
The Spurs showed no hangover from a 30-point road defeat at the hands of Golden State on Monday and picked up where they left off in the AT&T Center by swamping Houston from the opening tip.
Asked if his team responded well after the loss and an extensive film session Wednesday morning to review what went wrong, San Antonio coach Gregg Popovich had a typically succinct answer: "I guess you have to say 'yes.' You saw it."
San Antonio cemented the outcome by outscoring the Rockets by 23 points in the middle two quarters, relegating the fourth quarter mostly to a contest between the two teams' bench players.
Forward Kawhi Leonard and guard Danny Green scored 18 points apiece, guard Tony Parker added 15 points and seven assists and reserve center Boban Marjanovic added 13 points and 10 rebounds, all in the fourth quarter.
San Antonio (39-7) improved to 25-0 at home this season, the best start by a Western Conference team since the Portland Trail Blazers won their initial 26 home games in 1977-78.
"It was important for us to be ourselves again - to play defence, to be active and to stop the other team from getting easy shots," Aldridge said.
"I knew guys would come in tonight and be more locked in. Each player took it upon himself to get back to where we need to be."
Houston (25-23), which had its three-game win streak snapped, was led by guard James Harden's 20 points.
The Spurs, using a smaller lineup with guard Kyle Anderson in place of injured forward Tim Duncan, blitzed the Rockets early by hitting five of their first six shots from the field and building a 16-8 lead three minutes into the game.
"They beat us up, in every way, shape and form," Houston coach J.B. Bickerstaff said.
"It was time to teach somebody a lesson and they taught us one tonight. We knew San Antonio was going to be ready to go after the loss they had and we didn't draw a line in the sand."
Share
