Houston Rockets vs San Antonio Spurs Box Score on May 01, 2017

The Sports Xchange
May 2, 2017

SAN ANTONIO -- Trevor Ariza scored 23 points, and James Harden added 20 points and 14 assists as the Houston Rockets jumped on the San Antonio Spurs in the opening minutes and rolled to a 126-99 victory on Monday night in Game 1 of a Western Conference semifinal series at the AT&T Center.

Game 2 of the best-of-seven series is Wednesday in San Antonio before Games 3 and 4 are in Houston on Thursday and Saturday, respectively.

The Rockets led by 11 after the first quarter, by 30 at halftime and by 29 at the end of the third quarter, after which Harden and Ariza were removed from the game.

Houston reserve center Nene was ejected at the end of the third quarter after a verbal altercation with San Antonio's Dewayne Dedmon. Dedmon was later ejected as well.

Houston's 22 made 3-pointers were a playoff high for a San Antonio opponent. The Rockets' starters outscored the Spurs' first-line players 77-44 in the first three quarters.

Clint Capela added 20 points and 13 rebounds for the Rockets. Ryan Anderson scored 14 points, Lou Williams had 13, and Eric Gordon contributed 11.

Kawhi Leonard led the Spurs with 21 points and 11 rebounds. He also sat out the fourth quarter with no hope that San Antonio could mount a comeback.

Tony Parker and Jonathon Simmons scored 11 points apiece, but San Antonio got only four points and six rebounds from LaMarcus Aldridge and eight points from Danny Green, all in the third quarter when the game was already decided.

The Rockets came out of the gate full of run and energy and hit six of their first eight shots and five of their first 11 from beyond the arc to assume a 28-13 lead with 3:05 to play in the first quarter.

The Spurs responded with an 8-0 run, capped by 3-pointers from Patty Mills and Leonard, to crawl within 28-21. But Houston scored six of the final eight points of the quarter and led 34-23 after 12 minutes.

Houston opened the second quarter in a 15-2 run in the first 3 1/2 minutes that stunned San Antonio and buried the Spurs in a 49-25 hole.

The Rockets' lead grew to as many as 30 points in the waning moments of the second quarter and hit that margin again at the half when they led 69-39.

If the Spurs were going to get back in the game, they needed to do some damage in the first half of the third quarter. Instead, Houston just toyed with San Antonio as Capela had three dunks off Harden assists in the first 5 1/2 minutes of the quarter to help push the Rockets' advantage to 80-45.

NOTES: The Rockets are in the playoffs for the 30th time in 50 seasons. Houston has landed spots in the postseason in 10 of the past 14 seasons, including five straight, after missing the playoffs in three straight seasons from 2009-10 through 2011-12. ... San Antonio's current playoff berth is its 20th straight, which is the longest active streak in the NBA (the second longest is Atlanta with nine). ... The Rockets' win at Oklahoma City in Game 4 of the first round in this year's playoffs snapped a seven-game road losing streak in the postseason (six were to Golden State in 2015 and 2016). ... The Spurs are the only team in the 2017 NBA playoffs with two NBA Finals MVPs on their roster, G Tony Parker and F Kawhi Leonard. Parker was awarded the honor in 2007, and Leonard received the award in 2014.