The San Antonio Spurs come into this game off a tough loss in which they took the New Orleans Pelicans lightly (sound familiar?) and despite a furious comeback were unable to get the win at home. They’ve had two days to stew over that loss and get on a plane for a quick trip to Houston.

The Houston Rockets are coming off a tougher-than-expected win against an inferior opponent. That Houston struggled against the decimated-by-injury Memphis Grizzlies is not a surprise, but the whole winning part of the equation is a welcome one. Houston has had one day off since then.

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So expect the Spurs to start the game pissed off and in high gear. Expect Houston to come out slowly as usual and depend on the bench (read: Reed Sheppard) to dig them out of any early holes. Further complicating matters for Houston is that the Rockets will head to Atlanta right after this game (which has a late start, mind you). The Spurs don’t play again until Saturday. So if San Antonio races out to an early lead as I expect, Houston may waive the white flag early. But if Houston takes control, it’s unlikely that the Spurs will allow the game to slip away. Basically, tonight is not a schedule loss, but it is a schedule excuse.

These teams wrap up their season series in San Antonio in March. Whoever loses tonight’s game is going to have to circle that contest on the calendar.

Tip-off

8:30pm CT

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How To Watch

Space City Home Network, ESPN

Injury ReportRockets

Steven Adams: OUT

Spurs

Jeremy Sochan: GTD

David Jones Garcia: GTD

The Line (as of this post)

N/A

Check here for updates

Looking ahead because we can

Thursday night on the road against the Atlanta Hawks