San Antonio Spurs head coach Gregg Popovich sat two-thirds of his Big Three for Thursday night’s game against the Houston Rockets and the result was about what you’d expect from a lineup featuring Aron Baynes as your starting center (don’t get me wrong, as a WSU alum I love Aron Baynes, but come on). That doesn’t mean there weren’t any entertaining moments, though. Outside a momentary lull late in the first quarter and into the second, the game was never close, thanks to Dwight Howard’s monster first half (20 points, 12 rebounds) and James Harden making Corey Joseph look silly on a devastating Eurostep.
The second half featured more of the same, with Harden picking on Joseph again, while also posterizing the aforementioned Baynes.
Through it all was Howard’s alley-oop party (see video above). Again, we probably can’t put a ton of stock into Houston’s performance, but Howard (32 points, 16 rebounds) and Harden (20 points, 6 rebounds, 6 assists, 3 blocks) did exactly what you’re supposed to do against an over-matched opponent: crush them from every angle.
[.gifs via cjzero]
