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Rockets burn Spurs, giving McHale first Houston win

Dec 30, 2011 - 6:28 AM Houston, TX (Sports Network) - Kevin Martin netted a game-high 25 points, leading the Houston Rockets to a 105-85 thumping of the San Antonio Spurs at Toyota Center.

Luis Scola finished with 18 points and five rebounds, while Kyle Lowry added 16 points to go with nine rebounds and eight assists for the Rockets, who got their first win of the season for new head coach Kevin McHale after dropping a 104-95 decision to the Orlando Magic on Monday.

DeJuan Blair led the Spurs with 22 points and 12 rebounds, while Tony Parker added 12 points and Tiago Splitter donated 10 points and 11 rebounds off the bench.

San Antonio had won its first two contests, over Memphis on Monday and the Los Angeles Clippers on Wednesday.

"It was a really good effort tonight," McHale said. "You could see guys were really attentive. I thought Kyle was fantastic and I thought Luis got us off to a fast start. It was nice to be able to play a bunch of guys."

Houston began the game on fire, hitting seven of their first 13 shots to jump out to a 13-4 lead with 7:09 left in the opening quarter. A running layup by Duncan snapped the early burst to make it 13-6, but a hook shot by Scola with 4:21 remaining in the quarter gave the Rockets their largest lead of the quarter at 11, 21-10.

San Antonio had an answer, though, as the Spurs used a quick 8-0 run to get the deficit down to three, 21-18, with 33.8 seconds left. Houston held a 23-18 margin after one quarter. The Rockets shot 44 percent and Scola netted 10 points in the frame.

With the game tied at 27 early in the second quarter, the Rockets used a 20-4 run to seize control of the game, going ahead by 16, 47-31. A jumper by Parker finally snapped the run with 1:58 to go before halftime, but a layup by Martin with 29.7 left gave Houston its largest lead of the half heading into the break, 53-35.

The Rockets shot 47 percent in the second quarter, while San Antonio struggled, hitting only 29 percent of its shots. Martin netted 13 points in the quarter on 5-of-8 from the floor and 2-of-3 from three-point range.

Houston continued to control the game in the third quarter, shooting 65 percent from the floor and 3-of-7 from three-point range. The Spurs cut their deficit to 12 on two different occasions, but the Rockets continued to make shots and led by 19, 78-59, heading into the final period of play.

In the fourth quarter, a three-point play by Jordan Hill put the Rockets up by 20, 81-61, with 9:53 to play and they led by at least 20 points the rest of the way for the easy win.

"We just mentally were not here," Spurs guard Manu Ginobili said. "They played a terrific game."

Game Notes

San Antonio hasn't started a season 3-0 since the 2007-08 campaign...Rockets forward Hasheem Thabeet contributed six points and a pair of rebounds in just over four minutes of action...Houston shot 50 percent from the field and 35 percent from beyond the arc, while San Antonio shot 38 percent from the floor and 2-of-17 from three-point land...Houston will play the second game of its first back-to-back-to-back situation on Friday against the Memphis Grizzlies, while the Spurs will head home to face the Utah Jazz on Saturday...Ginobili finished with eight points and five boards in just under 20 minutes of action, while center Tim Duncan had four points in 15 1/2 minutes of court time.