SAN ANTONIO \u2014 The San Antonio Spurs are looking to put a disappointing opening night behind them when they take on their Interstate 10 rivals, the Houston Rockets, Friday night in Austin.<\/p>\n
The Southwest Division showdown tips off at 8:30 p.m. at the Moody Center, where the Spurs will play their first game of the season as part of the team’s I-35 Series, bringing NBA basketball to fans in Central Texas.<\/p>\n
San Antonio (0-1) is searching for its first victory of the young season after falling 116-104 to the Oklahoma City Thunder on Tuesday night at the Frost Bank Center.<\/p>\n
Houston (1-0), meanwhile, comes into the matchup riding the momentum of its season-opening victory over the Dallas Mavericks on Wednesday night.<\/p>\n
Spurs hoping for a better start<\/p>\n
Tuesday’s season opener was supposed to be a celebration of the Spurs’ remarkable run to the NBA Finals last season. Instead, Oklahoma City spoiled the party.<\/p>\n
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander scored 32 points as the Thunder jumped out to a commanding lead and held off a second-half comeback attempt by San Antonio.<\/p>\n
Victor Wembanyama endured a frustrating night, finishing with 12 points while shooting just 1 of 13 from the field. The Spurs superstar missed his first 12 shots before finally connecting on an alley-oop from De’Aaron Fox at the end of the third quarter.<\/p>\n
San Antonio trailed by as many as 26 points before opening the second half with a 23-9 run to make things interesting. But the Thunder responded whenever the Spurs threatened, handing San Antonio its first loss after a 62-win campaign and a trip to the NBA Finals last season.<\/p>\n
Friday presents an opportunity for Wembanyama and the Spurs to get back on track against another Western Conference contender.<\/p>\n
Houston brings winning momentum<\/p>\n
The Rockets enter Friday’s matchup looking to build on a successful season opener against Dallas.<\/p>\n
Houston finished last season 52-30, including a 10-6 record against Southwest Division opponents, establishing itself as one of the stronger teams in the Western Conference. The Rockets were also competitive away from home, finishing 22-19 on the road.<\/p>\n
San Antonio, however, was particularly difficult to beat on its home floor last season, going 32-8 while averaging 119.8 points per game. The Spurs also averaged 52.1 points in the paint, 17.1 points off turnovers and 16.3 fast-break points per game.<\/p>\n
Those numbers reflect the offensive balance and transition attack that helped San Antonio reach the NBA Finals.<\/p>\n
Injuries could play a role<\/p>\n
The Spurs continue to monitor veteran forward Tobias Harris, who is listed as day to day with a calf injury.<\/p>\n
Jayden Quaintance remains out with a knee injury.<\/p>\n
Houston will be without center Steven Adams, who is listed as out with a calf injury.<\/p>\n
What to watch<\/p>\n
One of the biggest questions heading into Friday’s game is how Wembanyama will respond after his difficult shooting performance against Oklahoma City.<\/p>\n
The Spurs will also need a stronger start after allowing the Thunder to build a 21-point halftime lead Tuesday.<\/p>\n
Houston presents another early test for a San Antonio team hoping to return to the NBA Finals and compete for the franchise’s sixth championship.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"SAN ANTONIO \u2014 The San Antonio Spurs are looking to put a disappointing opening night behind them when…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":473473,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[82,84,83],"class_list":["post-473472","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-san-antonio","tag-san-antonio","tag-san-antonio-headlines","tag-san-antonio-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/473472","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=473472"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/473472\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/473473"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=473472"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=473472"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=473472"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}