NBA Daily: The ‘Hair’ Trumps the ‘Beard’, as Spurs Outlast Rockets in Double Overtime 135-133
By Reylan Loberternos
PhilBoxing.com
Thu, 05 Dec 2019
Boracay Island, Philippines – Lonnie Walker IV, the Hair, came off the bench to score 19 of his career high 28 points in a furious 4th quarter rally to help the Spurs eke out a 135-133 double overtime victory over the Houston Rockets on Tuesday night (Wednesday morning, Philippine time) at the AT&T Center in San Antionio, Texas, despite former league MVP James Harden, the Beard, amassing 50 points.
Not having big man LaMarcus Aldridge for the 2nd straight game prompted the rest of Gregg Popovich’s wards to step up big time, with everybody who saw court time contributing on the point production.
Nobody stepped up bigger than Walker did. Down 115-107 with just over a minute left in regulation, he made an alley-hoop layup and a couple of threes to string up 8 straight points and tie the ballgame at 115-all to force overtime.
Jakob Poeltl stuffed the stat sheet with 6 points, 15 rebounds, 5 assists, 1 steal and 5 blocks that included the game-saving swat on James Harden’s floating jumper with just over a second left in regulation.
DeMar DeRozan added 23 markers, 5 boards, and 9 dimes for San Antonio. He was also clutch on both ends of the court in the dying minutes of the extension period, drawing the late charge on Harden and connecting 3 of 4 freethrows to seal the deal for the Spurs, who improved to 8 wins and 14 losses.
Harden only shot 11-for-38 from the field, including 4-for-20 from deep, but shot a perfect 24-for-24 from the charity stripe. Clint Capela once again had a monster double-double performance of 22 points on a perfect 9-for-9 field goal shooting and 21 rebounds, to go along with 2 assists, 1 steal and 2 blocks.
Russell Westbrook added a triple-double of 19 points, 10 boards, and 10 dimes, but shot poorly at 7-for-30 from the field and had 5 turnovers before fouling out.
The Rockets, who dropped to a 13-7 win-loss card, will be at Toronto on Thursday night (Friday morning, Philippine time) to face the defending champs.
Meanwhile, the Spurs will host the Sacramento Kings on Friday night (Saturday morning, Philippine time).
How they scored:
Spurs 135 – Walker IV 28, Forbes 25, DeRozan 23, Gay 14, White 12, Mills 9, Lyles 7, Murray 7, Poeltl 6, Eubanks 2, Carroll 2
Rockets 133 – Harden 50, Capela 22, Westbrook 19, Rivers 19, McLemore 11, Tucker 10, Chandler 2
AROUND THE LEAGUE:
(Road Team – Home Team)
DET 127 – 94 CLE
ORL 127 – 120 WSH
MIA 121 – 110 TOR (OT)
DAL 118 – 97 NOP
LAL 105 – 96 DEN
POR 97 – 117 LAC
GAMES TODAY, DECEMBER 5, 2019 CT
GSW @ CHA 8:00 AM CT
MIL @ DET 8:00 AM CT
PHX @ ORL 8:00 AM CT
MIA @ BOS 8:30 AM CT
BKN @ ATL 8:30 AM CT
IND @ OKC 9:00 AM CT
MEM @ CHI 9:00 AM CT
MIN @ DAL 9:30 AM CT
LAL @ UTAH 10:00 AM CT
SAC @ POR 11:00 AM CT
Comments are highly appreciated. You may send them to reylanloberternos@yahoo.com.ph and you may follow me @reylan_l on twitter.
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