“Didn’t handle physicality, didn’t handle traps,” Rockets coach Ime Udoka said after Friday’s loss in San Antonio. “They were a tougher team, kind of punked us out there, and out-hustled us.”
SAN ANTONIO — When Rockets head coach Ime Udoka was hired in April 2023, one of his immediate messages was that his team would play tough and physical on a nightly basis. Since then, this message has resonated loudly and clearly with his team and across the NBA.
Any opponent knows that when facing the Rockets, it’s usually going to be a tough night. With a relentless defense, which ranked in the league’s top five last season, Houston often sets the tone early by making it difficult for opponents to get a clear offensive shot.
In the new 2025-26 season, the Rockets (5-3) are also hard to guard on offense, given their myriad of playmakers who constantly attack the rim.
On Friday night, though, the San Antonio Spurs (6-2) stole the Rockets’ identity by playing the bully. In doing so, they ended Houston’s five-game winning streak with a 121-110 victory at the Frost Bank Center.
It was an ugly outing for the Rockets, who struggled to handle the Spurs’ pressure on the ball. Ultimately, this resulted in 24 Houston turnovers, leading to 33 points for the Spurs. The Rockets also performed poorly in the defensive rebounding department, allowing San Antonio to score 33 second-chance points.
“Didn’t handle physicality, didn’t handle traps,” Udoka said postgame. “They were a tougher team, kind of punked us out there and out-hustled us.”
Those aren’t words Udoka is used to uttering at the end of games, but it sums up perfectly the way the Rockets played on Friday. At times, Houston’s defense looked lethargic and discombobulated while failing to rotate to open players, thereby allowing them to get great looks at the basket.
The Spurs shot 18-of-45 from 3-point range (40.0%) as forwards Julian Champaigne and Harrison Barnes combined to go 12-for-22 from beyond the arc (54.5%), with many of those shots uncontested.
Houston employed a lot of zone defense to try and limit 7-foot-4 phenom Victor Wembanyama from utilizing his unique skill set to dominate the Rockets inside. Yet, San Antonio took advantage of the zone’s weaknesses and rotated the ball to open players.
“Guarding non-shooters and staying on non-shooters,” Udoka said of the defensive miscommunications. “There are guys we want to live with (shooting) and guys we want to account for. The guys we wanted to shoot the shots, they missed them. It was mostly that and the offensive rebounds with guys scrambling out of those zone coverages not getting to those shooters.”
On the offensive side, the Rockets struggled with consistency and had trouble running their sets, partly due to pressure from the Spurs. This led to widespread turnovers, led by eight from superstar forward Kevin Durant.
By preventing Durant’s teammates from getting him the ball in comfortable spots or early in the shot clock, San Antonio used a defensive strategy that many teams have previously employed. Durant was harassed throughout the game by defenders who trapped him as far out as half-court to force the ball out of his hands.
“I think everybody needs to be aggressive, to make plays, and not worrying about getting me the ball too much,” said Durant, who finished with 24 points. “I think we will figure it out. Teams don’t want me to catch the ball; they don’t even want me to get a shot attempt up when they implement those types of defenses. I feel like we all have to keep being aggressive, and we will continue to get better at it. We will watch film and see what we can work on.”
On the positive side, with 16 points and 6 assists on 6-of-10 shooting (60.0%), Rockets guard Reed Sheppard enjoyed his best offensive performance of the season. That spark off the bench kept Houston’s struggling offense afloat, and he connected on 4-of-7 from 3-point range (57.1%).
“It was good to see some shots falling and kind of getting a good rhythm out there,” Sheppard said. “But at the end of the day, you want to win. Not winning, you kind of look past how I played.”
In the finale of a three-game road trip, the Rockets will look to redeem themselves when they visit Milwaukee (6-3) on Sunday afternoon. Tipoff of Rockets-Bucks is at 2:30 p.m. Central, and the game will be televised regionally on Space City Home Network and nationally via NBA League Pass.