After a solid 82-70 win in Charlotte Tuesday night, the Houston Rockets will try for their first winning streak of the season when they travel to San Antonio to play the Spurs on Wednesday.
For a team with playoff aspirations before the season began, the Rockets 3-6 start has been very disappointing, but it has come against one of the toughest schedules in the NBA so far.
They have already defeated San Antonio once this season, and if they can beat the Spurs, who are without star SG Manu Ginobili for the next two months, they go into a stretch of nine home games over the month of January with the chance to make up ground on the rest of the Western Conference.
Florida rookie Chandler Parsons has given the team a spark since his insertion into the starting line-up, with the 6'10 SF scoring 20 points and grabbing 7 rebounds on 9-16 shooting against the Bobcats.
However, Houston's breakout star this year has been PG Kyle Lowry, and he'll get a chance to match-up with Tony Parker, one of his main competitors for a spot on the All-Star team, on Wednesday.
The only Spur to have a big game in the team's first meeting was C DeJuan Blair, who exploited the Rockets lack of interior defense to get 22 points and 12 rebounds, and controlling Blair and Tim Duncan in the front-court will be one of the keys for a Houston victory.
The 7:30 PM game will be broadcast regionally on Fox Sports Houston.
For the latest news and notes on the Rockets, head over to The Dream Shake, while Pounding The Rock is the one-stop shop for Spurs information on the interwebs.