In a big battle in Texas between two of the NBA's best teams, the San Antonio Spurs will meet the Houston Rockets tonight in San Antonio, with Rockets guard Jeremy Lin out with an injury.
Although James Harden has returned to action, there's no guarantee as to how much he'll be able to contribute Saturday night for the Houston Rockets. Harden came back Friday after missing three games with a sore left foot and had a season-low nine points and seven assists in 25 minutes in a 114-95 home rout of Brooklyn.
Whether San Antonio Spurs point guard Tony Parker suits up is going to be a game-time decision. Parker sat out Friday's 109-91 victory at Orlando with a sprained ankle. Spurs coach Gregg Popovich said there's a chance Parker will play Saturday.
"We'll see how he feels," Popovich said. "His sprain wasn't severe."
The Spurs are 7-0 home, where they have also won seven straight against a Rockets team that comes to town with Dwight Howard for the first time.
Coach Kevin McHale said that the Rockets' top scorer would not have played had Lin not been out with a sprained right knee. Lin is out for at least two weeks.
Parker averaged 24.5 points to help San Antonio (14-2) take three of four from Houston last season. Harden missed one of those contests, but averaged 30.3 in the others and also notably averaged 18.5 points in the Western Conference finals against San Antonio two seasons ago with Oklahoma City.
The Spurs have won nine of the last 13 meetings in this Texas rivalry that the Rockets hope will swing in their favor with the addition of Howard. He last faced San Antonio when his Los Angeles Lakers career ended in a first-round sweep in last season's playoffs.
Houston (12-5) has won a season-high four straight while getting a minimal contribution from Howard, who is averaging 12.3 points and 8.8 rebounds in that span.
"Everybody is learning how to still play together," he said. "We are 12-5 now. Again, we want to be a lot better team come February than we are now."
Both of these teams are expected to compete for an NBA championship this season. The Spurs, who lost to the Miami Heat in last season's NBA Finals, look even stronger this year.The Rockets have one of the most talented rosters in the league and McHale's job will be to get all that talent playing together.
