The rivalry between Mike D’Antoni’s Rockets and the post-Big Three Spurs has always felt more philosophical than anything else, two opposing currents meeting in a brackish clash of styles. On one side: the simple but proven application of basketball math through a singular pursuit of three-pointers, free throws, and shots at the rim. On the other: a system built on size and austerity. What the games have occasionally lacked in aesthetics they’ve more than made up for with the intrigue of seeing whether one approach rigidly overwhelms the other, or if they meet somewhere in the middle.
Spurs win small-ball battle with Rockets
