Spurs fall short on last shot again

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Web Posted: 01/20/2008 12:20 AM CST
Mike Monroe
Express-News

HOUSTON — The Spurs had to play a guessing game as they prepared for Saturday's game against the Houston Rockets at Toyota Center.

Would Rockets All-Star shooting guard Tracy McGrady play after missing 11 games with a knee injury?

If McGrady played, would he start?

Could they avoid the sort of scoring droughts that had betrayed them in recent losses to the Detroit Pistons and Cleveland Cavaliers?

Were they capable of giving a full 48 minutes of effort?

Could they possibly beat a team with a winning record in 2008?

The answers to their questions: Yes, no, sort of, finally and not quite yet.

This time, the Spurs were done in at the foul line, not by their own misses, but their inability to rebound critical misses by the Rockets.

The result: an 83-81 loss, their seventh straight against a team with a winning record.

"The last two minutes, their extra possessions off the offensive board," Spurs coach Gregg Popovich said. "Ballgame. Right there."

Most maddening was the rebound four Spurs — Tim Duncan, Fabricio Oberto, Francisco Elson and Manu Ginobili — failed to secure after Houston's Yao Ming missed a free-throw attempt with 7.5 seconds remaining and the Rockets ahead 82-81.

Popovich had inserted Elson into the game for the sole purpose of making certain the Spurs did not fail to rebound if Yao missed his second shot. Indeed, Elson went hard after the ball when it bounced off the front rim, but the effect was to knock the ball out of Oberto's grasp.

Houston's Shane Battier alertly batted it out to teammate Rafer Alston, who was fouled by Ginobili with 2.4 seconds left.

Alston missed his first free throw but made the second. That left Houston with a two-point lead and the Spurs with a final play to tie or win.

They got a wide-open shot to tie, too, but Matt Bonner's 11-foot jumper slid off the rim at the buzzer.

"You give yourself an opportunity to tie or win on the road," Duncan said. "We had some good options on the play that was drawn up. It just didn't happen."

"It was not the main option," said Ginobili of Bonner's shot, "but I think we took a pretty good shot. Matt could have even passed it to Brent Barry for a win. But it was a good look. We are just not making them."

Still fresh in Ginobili's mind was the 18-foot runner he missed that would have won Thursday's game against Cleveland.

Duncan had 17 rebounds, but he was the only Spurs player with more than five. He said the Rockets' rebounding effort in the second half, when they outrebounded the Spurs 37-22, was too much to overcome. Specifically, he cited the extra offensive chances the Rockets gained from the late rebounds of their own misses.

"Obviously, down the stretch they made a difference in the game," he said. "Their effort and some bounces went their way.

"I want to say effort first, because they really did go for it."

The Rockets' effort in the fourth was a product of their own recent frustration. They had blown big leads in the fourth quarter in their previous two games, losing to New Orleans and Philadelphia on their home court.

"We didn't want the game to get away after the last couple of games," Yao said. "We weren't thinking about the fourth quarter. We were thinking about the whole 48 minutes."

So was Popovich. For the first time in a long time, he believed his team had competed well from start to finish.

"It was a great game," he said. "I thought both teams were fantastic and competed for 48 minutes.

"Those are the most fun. It was really good to be part of that."

McGrady, playing for the first time since Dec. 23, had plenty of fun. Rockets coach Rick Adelman brought him off the bench to avoid fatigue. While his shot was rusty — he missed 8 of 12 — his presence in crunch time demanded the Spurs' attention.