Spurscast: Preseason Opener in Houston

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In Spurscast episode 670, Spurscast host Paul Garcia and Project Spurs writer Jazz Tamir discuss

  • The San Antonio Spurs’ opening preseason loss in Houston
  • Takeaways from the game

Preseason Loss in Houston

The San Antonio Spurs opened their preseason schedule Sunday with a 38-point loss in Houston. The game was close for the first 10.5 minutes, but just before the first quarter ended, the Rockets went up by double digits, and never looked back.

One contributing factor to the Spurs’ loss was their shooting from outside. The team shot 11/42 from distance, which allowed the Rockets to collect defensive boards and get out in transition. With the Spurs being unable to set up their halfcourt defense, the Rockets scored 30 or more points in every quarter of the game.

“In general, the shooting was pretty poor,” said Spurs Head Coach Gregg Popovich after the game. “And when you’re going back in transition defense all the time, all kinds of bad things are going to happen. You just can’t do it over and over and over again with the missed shots. That was the worst part of the game. The second thing was physicality. We let them go where they wanted to go, they were much more physical in that sense and that’s got to be the biggest improvement we make overall.”

Devin Vassell led the team with 13 points in one half of play, while Zach Collins scored 11 points, Malaki Branham scored 10 points in just two quarters, and Jeremy Sochan showed his potential on defense with three blocks in just 17 minutes.

One of the players who really stood out was Isaiah Roby. Roby finished with 12 points, 5 rebounds, 2 steals, and 1 block in 18 minutes.

“He’s got a lot of skills,” said Popovich of Roby. “He’s a good ball handler, he could rebound, he’s playing defense, he’s trying to do everything the way we want to do it, but I thought that Isaiah Roby did a good job tonight at both ends of the floor.”

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