It’s been an extremely interesting NBA playoffs so far and while Cleveland and Golden State have already booked their tickets into their respective conference finals, there is still two massive Round 2 matchups in action with both the Boston vs Washington and San Antonio vs Houston series tied at two games apiece.
Houston Rockets at San Antonio Spurs (10am AEST)
Today we take a look at the massive game five between the Spurs and the Rockets kicking off at 10am this Wednesday the 10th of May. James Harden had 28 points and 12 assists to lead the Rockets to a game four win by 21 points. His star counterpart, Kawhi Leonard was quiet in the loss, scoring just 16 points on 7-14 shooting.
The home win for the Rockets means the series is back on schedule as it moves back to San Antonio for game five. The Rockets 3pt shot was on again in game four, as they went 19-43 from beyond the arc with their high powered bench unit in Lou Williams and Eric Gordon shooting seven between them.
So much of the Spurs hopes ride on the shoulders of Kawhi Leonard this series. Much of the rest of their talent, mainly Pau Gasol and LaMarcus Aldridge have been rendered useless due to the fast paced offence of the Rockets. The injury to Tony Parker could also be a big factor moving forward, with Patty Mills and replacement starter Dejounte Murray both having quiet games in game four.
Having said that, the Spurs have been great at home during the playoffs with a 4-1 record so far against Memphis and Houston and coach Greg Popovich is a master of the id series adjustment. In such an even series it’s hard to look past the Spurs here.
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