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Wins will be needed for two vastly different reasons when the San Antonio Spurs host the Houston Rockets in Saturday Night NBA action from the AT&T Center. Join The Roar for live scores from 12:00pm (AEDT).
Despite the fact they sit in second place of the Western Conference, and have a massive lead to the chasing pack, the Spurs will still be desperate for a win when they take on the Rockets.
Currently they hold a record of 49 wins and nine losses and, with 24 games to go in their season they sit 3.5 games back from the first placed Golden State Warriors. Behind them, the Oklahoma City Thunder sit in third, eight games back from cracking the top two.
The Spurs will be mightily keen to somehow try and get the first seed out west heading into the finals. While it looks unlikely given the way the Warriors have been playing, winning a majority of games to the end of the season would be a start.
The Spurs come into this having played seven matches on the road in a row. Only having one loss throughout that trip, with two back-to-back games involved was an awesome effort. That loss came against the Los Angeles Clippers right in the middle of the run.
That means they come into this game on the back of four straight wins.
Things are not all so smooth over at the Rockets. While they beat the Portland Trail Blazers by 14 points in their last outing, they have really stumbled their way through this middle block of the season. After an atrocious start they went on a good run to move up the table, before losing four of their last six has left them dangling on the bottom of the eight out west.
In fact, before yesterday they were in ninth just half a game back from the Utah Jazz, but now they will take eighth place back after a loss from the Jazz at the hands of the San Antonio Spurs.
The Rockets have struggled, and only James Harden’s shooting performance has been going close to keeping them afloat. Still, if they can get back to their form from the middle of the season then they will expect to get back into the play-off picture.
As noted, James Harden is the man for the Rockets and it will be interesting to see who they put on him in defence. I would expect either Tony Parker or Kawhi Leonard, because shutting him down could be the difference between winning and losing.
Prediction
The Rockets haven’t really been playing like a team, or like they have any drive to win. Hard to tip against the Spurs here.
Spurs by 12.
Be sure to join The Roar for live scores of this clash from 12pm (AEDT) and don’t forget to add a comment below.
Follow Scott on Twitter @sk_prde