By Jeff McDonald
HOUSTON — It cannot be said Gregg Popovich did not know what he was doing.
He knew by sitting All-Star forward Tim Duncan on Saturday, a night after the Spurs suffered their first home defeat of the season, he was inviting a losing streak.
Popovich didn’t care. With an eye cast toward the future more than the present or past, the 35-year-old Duncan got his first night off this season in what became a 105-102 loss at Houston.
“This is his fourth game in five nights, and he probably shouldn’t be playing four games in five nights if I want him at the end of the year,” Popovich said. “So, we bite the bullet.”
In the end, the Spurs very nearly bit the Rockets.
Down to one-third of the Big Three, with Manu Ginobili also out with a broken left hand, Tony Parker and Tiago Splitter almost helped the Spurs pull a victory out of thin air at the Toyota Center.
Doing his best Duncan facsimile, Splitter twisted, spun and finished his way to a career-best 25 points off the ? bench. Parker shook off a scoreless first quarter to record his first double-double of the season (24 points, 13 assists).
The Spurs hung around behind that tandem, taking their first edge of the game on Gary Neal’s 3-pointer with 9:56 to play, and leading by as many as five in the fourth.
Kevin Martin scored 25 points to lead the Rockets, Samuel Dalembert had six of his team’s nine blocked shots, and Kyle Lowry and Goran Dragic threw in big baskets down the stretch to help Houston (9-7) pull out its sixth straight win.
For the Spurs (10-7), it was a second straight loss.
“They made their shots,” said Spurs forward Richard Jefferson, who missed 9 of his 11. “Everybody wants to make it seem like there’s a vast difference from one game to the next. Whoever hits shots at the end of the game usually wins.”
Like Sacramento’s John Salmons and Tyreke Evans, heroes of the Kings’ 88-86 win in San Antonio a night earlier, Lowry and Dragic supplied Houston’s big buckets.
Lowry hit consecutive jumpers while blanketed by Spurs rookie Kawhi Leonard, including a 25-foot rainbow to push Houston’s lead to 99-92 with 3:07 left.
Moments later, Dragic capped a mad-cap scramble with the game’s toughest score.
After Parker answered with a floater, Leonard poked the ball away from Lowry, who saved it long to Dragic near midcourt. Dragic danced along the midcourt line, flirting with a backcourt violation, before salvaging possession.
He scored a 2-foot shotput of a floater as the shot-clock blared.
“That’s the difference in a close ballgame right there,” said Spurs forward Matt Bonner, who drew the start for Duncan and was 5 of 12 from the field for 16 points.
At the end, the Spurs had a chance to force overtime, but Neal’s contested 3-pointer at the buzzer missed.
For the Spurs, it was the third consecutive game decided by three points or less.
Popovich, playing the odds in a compressed, lockout-shortened season, only hopes resting Duncan pays off in the long run. The games are coming “with such rapidity,” Popovich said, that simply managing minutes isn’t enough.
Popovich wants to manage Duncan’s games-played as well.
That’s why, even after Duncan sat all but 5.5 seconds of the fourth quarter against Sacramento, he was inactive in Houston. Since he didn’t bother to bring a sport coat, Duncan wasn’t even on the bench Saturday.
Duncan should be extra well-rested for the Spurs’ next game, in New Orleans on Monday,
“You can probably guess Tim’s not the happiest camper in the world,” Popovich said.
Still, Popovich stuck to his guns, and stuck to a decision made long before the Spurs’ charter touched down in Houston. He would be swayed neither by his captain, nor by the threat of a near-certain losing streak.
jmcdonald@express-news.net
– Associated Press photos
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Rockets 105, Spurs 102 – Jan. 21, 2012
San Antonio Spurs coach Gregg Popovich gestures to his players in the first half of an NBA basketball game against the Houston Rockets Saturday, Jan. 21, 2012, in Houston. (AP Photo/Pat Sullivan) (AP)
San Antonio Spurs’ DeJuan Blair (45) and Houston Rockets’ Samuel Dalembert, right, battle for the ball in the first half of an NBA basketball game Saturday, Jan. 21, 2012, in Houston. (AP Photo/Pat Sullivan) (AP)
Houston Rockets’ Chandler Parsons (25) passes the ball over San Antonio Spurs’ Richard Jefferson (24) in the first half of an NBA basketball game Saturday, Jan. 21, 2012, in Houston. (AP Photo/Pat Sullivan) (AP)
San Antonio Spurs’ DeJuan Blair (45) bowls over Houston Rockets’ Patrick Patterson (54) in the first half of an NBA basketball game Saturday, Jan. 21, 2012, in Houston. Blair was called for an offensive foul on the play. (AP Photo/Pat Sullivan) (AP)
Houston Rockets’ Patrick Patterson, center, is double-teamed by San Antonio Spurs Gary Neal (14) and Richard Jefferson (24) in the first half of an NBA basketball game Saturday, Jan. 21, 2012, in Houston. (AP Photo/Pat Sullivan) (AP)
San Antonio Spurs’ Richard Jefferson chews on his shirt in the final minutes of an NBA basketball game against the Houston Rockets Saturday, Jan. 21, 2012, in Houston. The Rockets won 105-102. (AP Photo/Pat Sullivan) (AP)
San Antonio Spurs’ Tony Parker (9) passes the ball under pressure from Houston Rockets’ Samuel Dalembert (21) in the second half of an NBA basketball game Saturday, Jan. 21, 2012, in Houston. The Rockets won 105-102. (AP Photo/Pat Sullivan) (AP)
Houston Rockets’ Patrick Patterson (54) and San Antonio Spurs’ Richard Jefferson (24) go after a loose ball in the second half of an NBA basketball game Saturday, Jan. 21, 2012, in Houston. The Rockets won 105-102. (AP Photo/Pat Sullivan) (AP)
Houston Rockets Courtney Lee (5) and Jordan Hill (27) watch the final seconds of an NBA basketball game against the San Antonio Spurs Saturday, Jan. 21, 2012, in Houston. The Rockets won 105-102. (AP Photo/Pat Sullivan) (AP)
Houston Rockets coach Kevin McHale questions a call in the first half of an NBA basketball game against the San Antonio Spurs Saturday, Jan. 21, 2012, in Houston. The Rockets won 105-102. (AP Photo/Pat Sullivan) (AP)
Houston Rockets’ Patrick Patterson (54) and San Antonio Spurs’ Richard Jefferson (24) go after a loose ball in the second half of an NBA basketball game, Saturday, Jan. 21, 2012, in Houston. The Rockets won 105-102. (AP Photo/Pat Sullivan) (AP)
San Antonio Spurs’ Kawhi Leonard (2) tries to maintain control of the ball as Houston Rockets’ Kevin Martin, left, pursues during the second half of an NBA basketball game, Saturday, Jan. 21, 2012, in Houston. The Rockets won 105-102. (AP Photo/Pat Sullivan) (AP)
San Antonio Spurs’ Tony Parker (9) shoots over Houston Rockets’ Courtney Lee (5) in the first half of an NBA basketball game Saturday, Jan. 21, 2012, in Houston. (AP Photo/Pat Sullivan) (AP)
