The Rockets were missing half their team, but that was not all. They missed free throws. They missed layups. They missed one another when they tried to pass to those not wearing Spurs uniforms.
What was left of the Rockets, with just eight players available including three rookies and pregame arrival Rodion Kurucs, stayed in the game much of the way. They even held an early 10-point lead to offer a reminder of their similarly shorthanded win in San Antonio on Thursday.
The Rockets offense, however, could give them a chance to steal the win, with the Spurs pulling away in the fourth quarter to take a 103-91 win while the Rockets waited for reinforcements in Chicago on Monday.
Victor Oladipo was not available with the trade to put him in the Rockets backcourt not completed in time. Eric Gordon and DeMarcus Cousins were ruled out on Saturday, joining John Wall and Danuel House Jr. who were already out.
That left the Rockets with a backcourt of Ben McLemore and Mason Jones and little off the bench.
Jones, signed to a two-way contract as an undrafted free agent out of Arkansas, scored 24 points in his first start, the first Rockets rookie to score 20 points in a game since Troy Williams in the 2016-17 season. McLemore added 21. Center Christian Wood had 24 points with a career-high 18 rebounds. No one else, however, scored more than seven points.
By the fourth quarter, the Rockets had little left, making 6 of 18 shots with few options to help the make-shift Big Three.
After a remarkably strong start, the Rockets offense predictably crumbled under the weight of turnovers and missed layups and free throws. They could stay in the game by knocking down occasional 3s. They were within three with 8 ½ minutes left after Jones sank his fifth 3-pointer, the Rockets’ 11th in 27 attempts. But by then, the Rockets already had 18 turnovers.
Taking so many fewer shots than the Spurs required the Rockets make the most of the shots they did get. They did not.
By then, they were making 38.9 percent of their shots, 36 percent since the first quarter, while going 12 of 20 from the line.
By halftime, Jones was on pace to get more playing time on Saturday than in the first 10 games of his NBA career combined. When he ended the first half with a deep, last-second 3-pointer, he had 12 points and the Rockets had a 53-50 lead.
Yet, as shorthanded as the Rockets were, they might have been disappointed that their lead was not larger. They had gone up by as much as 10 with McLemore scoring a season high 18 points in 18 minutes before slowing down badly in the second quarter when they had eight of their 12 first-half turnovers and repeatedly came up empty on layups. The Rockets made just 11 of 24 shots in the paint, slowing their offense even when getting good looks.
Defensively, however, the Rockets were active and intense from the opening tip. The Spurs made just 37.3 percent of their first-half shots, missing nine of 10 3-pointers. They made up for much of that by hitting the boards.
A team that traditionally emphasizes getting back defensively rather than chasing offensive rebounds, the Spurs had eight offensive boards in the first half, exploiting the Rockets shortcoming that had not changed despite all the other changes.
The Spurs missed most of those second shots as the Rockets sought to have their make-shift offense measure up to their suddenly and surprisingly strong defense.
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Rockets misfire in loss to Spurs, await reinforcements - Houston Chronicle
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