Rockets meet spiraling Spurs, aim to extend home streak

Having completed the first six weeks of the season without a win on the road, there should have been little reason to expect easy sledding for the Houston Rockets once they finally claimed a victory away from home.

After that close call, Houston hosts the San Antonio Spurs Monday with a nine-game home-court winning streak on the line.

The Rockets saddled the Denver Nuggets with their first home loss of the season in a 114-106 victory Friday, but success did not come routinely. The Rockets built a 25-point lead in the fourth quarter only to surrender an 18-0 run that allowed the Nuggets to close to within 103-96 with three minutes remaining.

The Rockets went the final 8:25 without a field goal and shot just 3-for-18 in the final period. They missed seven free throws and committed two turnovers in the fourth yet held on.

"It goes a long way," Rockets forward Dillon Brooks said. "It gives us confidence and reassurance that we can win on the road and figure out how to win on the road as well with everything going haywire in that fourth quarter."

Missing for the Rockets on the road compared to their sterling performances at home was defensive energy. Houston has defeated the Nuggets twice at Toyota Center this season but in the previous meeting between the teams in Denver, the Rockets surrendered 41 first-quarter points to set a negative tone in a 134-124 loss on Nov. 29.

In the fourth and final meeting between the teams, the Rockets zeroed in and committed to a defensive game play that yielded the results witnessed previously in Houston.

"That was the focus," Rockets coach Ime Udoka said. "Make them work the way we did at home the previous two games that we won.

"I think we did an incredible job defensively."

The Spurs suffered their 16th consecutive loss on Friday, falling 121-112 at home to the Chicago Bulls. The Spurs built a 63-52 halftime lead only to collapse in the second half, starting with a 20-point third quarter that enabled the Bulls to take a four-point lead into the final period.

Second-half offensive woes have been a recurring theme for the Spurs, who rank last in the NBA in third-quarter scoring at 25.3 points per game and ahead of only the Portland Trail Blazers averaging 53.1 points following intermission.

An inability to counter the defensive intensity of opponents late in games is a common occurrence for young teams such as the Spurs -- San Antonio fields the third-youngest roster in the league -- but their struggles on the defensive glass against the Bulls can't be solely isolated to inexperience.

Chicago recorded 24 offensive rebounds resulting in 20 second-chance points and a plus-19 margin in field-goal attempts. That proved especially debilitating and decisive.

"We've been here before," Spurs coach Gregg Popovich said. "They competed their butts off. A lot of good things, but fourth quarter, people up their defense and we have trouble scoring. So we just didn't keep up the scoring in that regard. We just move on and go on to the next one.

"A lot of guys are doing better things and improving, but we can't forget the basics like rebounding."