The San Antonio Spurs beating the Houston Rockets in 6 games to make the conference finals isn’t a surprise. The Rockets losing by 39 points at home on an elimination game while James Harden puts in one of the worst performances of his career? That’s another case, and far less expected.
Here are some numbers from a game that will be talked about for quite some time, or at least until the Spurs get knocked out by the Warriors in the conference finals, unless we have a major upset brewing in camp Popovich.
- The biggest thing was James Harden’s performance. Many theories are being attached to this performance: From going out the night before, from throwing the game for some reason, to playing injured, maybe even with a concussion. The facts: 10 points, 18% from the field, 22% from beyond the arc, 6 turnovers in 36 minutes while fouling out.
- The Spurs beat the Rockets by 39 points (114-75). This turns the Rockets into the first NBA team to get knocked out of the postseason in consecutive years by 30 points or more losses. They lost in the first round of the playoffs to the Golden State Warriors last year. In game 5, they lost 114-81.
- The Spurs destroyed the Rockets on the boards with 14 offensive rebounds in game 6. They finished the series with a whopping 30.3% offensive rebounding percentage. They had a 24% offensive rebounding ratio during the regular season.
- Dejounte Murray (11 points, 10 rebounds) is only the 4th Spurs rookie to get a points-rebounds double-double in a postseason game, joining David Robinson, Tim Duncan and Kawhi Leonard.
- The Rockets finished with just 75 points, their second lowest-scoring game during the James Harden era (began in 2012) in playoffs or the regular season. After the game, Mike D’Antoni said the Rockets often get that much in the first half alone, but they just didn’t play well in game 6.
- The Rockets shot 24.3% on 2-point shots, the lowest by any team this season, playoff or regular season. The Spurs outscored the Rockets 92-18 on 2-pointers in this game.
- LaMarcus Aldridge, who scored 34 points and reminded everyone of how important he can be, had a 35.4% usage ratio. His regular season usage ratio was 24.5%.
- Teams facing elimination at home this postseason are 0-10.
- Gregg Popovich is now 20-6 against Mike D’Antoni coached-teams, including 5-0 in series. He has never needed a game 7.
