Houston Rockets vs. San Antonio Spurs seeding game preview

The Houston Rockets and San Antonio Spurs have played two memorable games already this season. The first was characterized by an odd and egregious missed call of a dunk that clearly should have counted. Houston still led by double digits, but the Spurs mounted a furious comeback and won in double overtime. In the second matchup, San Antonio led by 25 but fell apart late.

So maybe the message for this game is simple: make sure to trail by a lot early in the game.

The Spurs are still holding onto hope that they can extend their postseason streak to 23, which is an incredible amount of consecutive playoff appearances. It’s not time to deliver the eulogy on their streak just yet, but it is time to start writing it. The Spurs have two games remaining including today’s contest. After today’s tilt against Houston, they play a Utah team that might be tanking to avoid Houston in a 4-5 matchup.

The scenarios make my head hurt, but basically San Antonio needs to win both of their games to have a puncher’s chance at the play-in. Portland’s schedule looks like a cakewalk (though the Nets have surprised everyone), so San Antonio’s best chance is to hope that Memphis goes 0-2 against the Celtics and Bucks. Of course, who knows if those teams in the East will play their starters in those games since they are both locked into their seeds at this point.

James Harden won’t play today for rest. Russell Westbrook will play today but not Wednesday. Eric Gordon won’t play today but will play Wednesday. That information is per Jonathan Feigen.

LaMarcus Aldridge got surgery before the bubble, so his season is done. Derrick White suffered a bruised knee on Sunday so he’s day-to-day.

Tip-off is at 1pm CT on NBA TV