Spurs Present Rockets Another Homely Defeat

In the Western Conference finals, home is where the heartbreak is.

The San Antonio Spurs, in their most overpowering performance of the playoffs, routed the Houston Rockets 103-81 Sunday to square the best-of-7 series 2-2. In each game, the home team has been a loser.

And Houston was a big loser this time.

San Antonio dominated the rebounding 64-39 to emphatically complete a Summit sweep.

“It’s like we had to go on a retreat and find ourselves,” San Antonio’s Sean Elliott said. “Let’s play the rest of the games here. We’re at a disadvantage. We’ve got two games at home.”

David Robinson had 20 points and 16 rebounds, the first time he’s matched Hakeem Olajuwon statistically in the series. Olajuwon had 20 points and 14 rebounds but was just 9-for-24 from the field.

Now the series shifts 200 miles up Interstate 10 for Game 5 Tuesday night in the Alamodome, where San Antonio has lost three straight. It should be a welcome change for Houston, which is 3-4 at home in the playoffs but has won four in a row on the road.

Robinson said the time has come to end those home-court horrors.

“I think we’ll feel good at home now,” Robinson said, “because we’re playing basketball the way we can play it.”

Vinny Del Negro tied his career playoff high for the second straight game with 19 points, nine in the third quarter when San Antonio used a 17-4 run to blow the game open. All five Spurs starters scored in double figures and Doc Rivers came off the bench to score 13.

“I must say it was our most impressive performance from start to finish,” San Antonio coach Bob Hill said.

Dennis Rodman scored 12 points and had 19 rebounds, 12 offensive, as San Antonio turned bully against a Rockets team that showed few signs of the poise, precision and togetherness that had brought them five straight playoff victories and a 2-0 lead in the series.

Instead, they looked like a weary team playing its 14th playoff game in 26 days.

“Dennis was great tonight,” Rivers said. “You could see it in practice yesterday. He was talking, giving advice. Dennis wants that ring.”

Rodman was obviously enjoying himself, prancing around the court during breaks. Instead of a disinterested, shoeless distraction on the sidelines, he was the heart of an inside game that manhandled Houston. San Antonio had a 24-10 advantage on the offensive boards.

All eight of Rodman’s rebounds in the second half were on offense.

“Dennis Rodman had 12 offensive rebounds. They get 17 more shots than us, and we get outrebounded by 25,” Houston’s Maro Elie said. “We’ve got to play better than that if we’re going to win this.”

It was a major understatement. If the Rockets don’t play better than this, their season has two games remaining.

The Spurs outscored the Rockets 24-13 in the third quarter, when Houston went 5 of 15 from the field and committed five turnovers.

“You want to do it on the defensive end and when you hold them to 13 points, that’s playing pretty good defense,” Hill said.

San Antonio led 78-58 going into the final quarter and the Rockets never got closer than 14 points the rest of the way.

While Olajuwon, the inside half of Houston’s inside-outside attack, was far from his best, the outside half was virtually non-existent. The Rockets, who had shot 41 percent from 3-point range in the playoffs, were 1 of 8 through three quarters and finished 3 of 16.

“A lot of those babies spun around and came out,” Houston coach Rudy Tomjanovich said. “We’ll have a nice, positive shooting practice (today).”

The Spurs have won four straight on the road. They closed out their first two series with victories in Denver and Los Angeles.

Clyde Drexler and Robert Horry headed the list of Rockets who fizzled.

Drexler shot 3-for-11 and scored 12 points, including four in the second half for the second game in a row, and was burned repeatedly by Del Negro in the third quarter. Horry was 2-for-9 overall, scored six points, and was beaten to the hoop consistently by Elliott late in the game.

San Antonio controlled the game almost from the start. The Spurs led 54-45 at halftime and stretched it to 58-45 early in the third quarter. Houston had cut the lead to 61-53 when everything went wrong.

The Spurs scored the next 10 en route to a 17-4 outburst.

Spurs 103, Rockets 81

SAN ANTONIO (103)

Elliott 6-14 1-3 13, Rodman 5-10 2-2 12, Robinson 6-16 8-10 20, Del Negro 7-15 5-5 19, Johnson 7-18 0-1 14, Person 1-6 0-0 3, Anderson 0-1 0-0 0, Rivers 4-6 2-2 13, Reid 1-3 0-0 2, Cummings 2-4 3-6 7, Haley 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 39-94 21-29 103.

HOUSTON (81)

Brown 3-5 3-4 9, Horry 2-9 2-2 6, Olajuwon 9-24 2-3 20, Drexler 3-11 6-6 12, Smith 6-12 0-0 13, Jones 0-1 1-2 1, Elie 1-2 0-2 3, Cassell 4-9 2-3 11, Chilcutt 2-4 2-2 6, Tabak 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 30-77 18-24 81.

San Antonio 26 28 24 25 - 103 Houston 22 23 13 23 - 81

3-Point goals-San Antonio 4-13 (Rivers 3-3, Person 1-5, Elliott 0-1, Rodman 0-1, Robinson 0-1, Del Negro 0-1, Johnson 0-1), Houston 3-16 (Elie 1-2, Cassell 1-3, Smith 1-3, Chilcutt 0-2, Horry 0-3, Drexler 0-3). Fouled out-None. Rebounds-San Antonio 75 (Rodman 19), Houston 41 (Olajuwon 14). Assists-San Antonio 14 (Del Negro, Johnson 4), Houston 16 (Olajuwon 5). Total fouls-San Antonio 22, Houston 27. Technicals-San Antonio illegal defense, Houston coach Tomjanovich, Horry. A-16,611 (16,611).