Spurs-Rockets Preview

By JOHN KOSIK

(AP) -- Heading into Christmas Day last year, the picture was quite different in the Southwest Division for the San Antonio Spurs and Houston Rockets.

With their roles essentially reversed in the standings this year, the Spurs visit Toyota Center to face the Rockets in the penultimate matchup of the NBA's five-game holiday slate - a contest with a lot more luster than the disparate records indicate.

The Rockets were 20-7 and a half-game out of first place behind Memphis entering Christmas 2014, and although the Spurs were a respectable 18-11, they were fourth in the highly competitive Southwest behind 20-win Dallas.

All four of those teams finished with at least 50 victories - even last-place New Orleans had 45 - and Houston claimed the division crown by a single game.

This season has been a disappointment so far for the Rockets, who went to the Western Conference finals for the first time in 18 years under Kevin McHale before he was fired Nov. 18 in the wake of a puzzling 4-7 start.

The promotion of assistant J.B. Bickerstaff to interim head coach seems to have prompted the necessary surge that has gotten the Rockets back to .500 at 15-15.

Since losing by double digits five times under McHale, only three losses in 19 games under Bickerstaff have been by more than nine. In that span, Houston has pulled off a nearly 10-point swing in average scoring differential from minus-7.7 to plus-2.2.

The Spurs, meanwhile, have quietly gone about their business during a 25-5 start that's put a 10-game gap between them and fourth-place Houston. San Antonio has primarily done it with defense, leading the NBA with 88.8 points allowed per game, but the offense has been nearly as strong and sits in the top 10 with an average of 102.4.

While the club's league-best point differential (13.6) is a hair better than defending NBA champion Golden State (13.5), the next closest is Oklahoma City (8.8).

San Antonio has been even better of late - wildly so, in fact - and rolls into this in-state rivalry matchup riding a seven-game win streak during which its outscored the competition by an average of 21.4 after Wednesday's 108-83 win at Minnesota.

"Guys are competing at a high level. We're paying attention to detail and playing defense," said LaMarcus Aldridge, who had 12 points and eight rebounds. "If we keep doing that, things should go well for us."

Kawhi Leonard has been the straw that stirs the drink for the Spurs, playing lock-down defense on the league's top players while averaging a team-best 21.0 points. He had 19, six rebounds, two steals and two blocks against the Timberwolves.

Leonard has made things tough on Rockets leading scorer James Harden, who went a combined 11 for 34 the last two times they faced each other. When Leonard was inactive against Houston on Dec. 28, Harden shot 10 of 18 with 28 points in a 110-106 loss.

That victory was the first of San Antonio's current three-game win streak in the series after it lost the previous six meetings. The Spurs' 104-103 win April 14 was only their second in Houston in four years.

The Rockets snapped a three-game win streak with Wednesday's 104-101 loss in Orlando - only their fifth in the last 15 games. Harden had 31 points on 12-of-18 shooting for Houston, which rallied from an 87-74 hole after three quarters but fell short.

"We can't have mental lapses where we do everything the right way for a couple possessions and go back to just taking it easy on teams," said Dwight Howard, who shot 71.7 percent (33 of 46) in last season's series against San Antonio.

"We have to do a better job of playing the same way for 48 minutes."