Houston Rockets vs San Antonio Spurs live stream: Watch NBA online
Southwestern division rivals Houston Rockets and San Antonio Spurs will lock horns at the Toyota Center on Monday evening (Tuesday AEDT). James Harden, the runaway favourite to win MVP honours, will be returning to the Rockets line-up after sitting out his team's 105-82 victory over the Dallas Mavericks on Sunday.
Harden was reportedly rested due to knee soreness. But Rockets coach Mike D'Antoni insisted that the superstar guard will return for the game against the Spurs, a team battling to hold onto the seventh seed in the Western Conference. The Spurs, who have been the standard-bearers of the league for over two decades, are in serious danger of missing the playoffs for the first time since the 1996-97 NBA season.
Gregg Popovich's Spurs have won a minimum of 50 games for 18 consecutive years, dating back to the 1999-00 season. With only 14 games left on their schedule, the 37-29 Spurs would have to go 13-1 the rest of the way to maintain the 50-game winning streak -- a highly unlikely achievement at this stage. A loss to the Rockets on Monday would give the Utah Jazz (37-3o) and Denver Nuggets (37-30) more hope to surge into the seventh and eighth seeds. The Los Angeles Clippers (36-29) are currently in possession of the eighth playoff seed.
A lot of San Antonio's woes have been injury-related. While franchise star Kawhi Leonard has played just nine games this season, All-Star forward LaMarcus Aldridge has been dealing with several nagging injuries. Aldridge has already been ruled out of the game in Houston due to right knee soreness.
The Rockets, too, have been dealt with several injuries. Starting power forward Ryan Anderson (hip), Nene (rest) and Brandan Wright (knee) all sat out of Sunday's game against Dallas. Eric Gordon, the frontrunner to win the Sixth Man of the Year award, believes his team has enough tools to cope with injuries.
"We've been dealing with it all season. We've just got to play collectively as a group. We played very good defence and offensively ... we really got it going in the second half. We just played really good basketball. I'd much rather have the No. 1 seed. We've still got 16 games left. We just want to finish No. 1. That's really the main goal," Gordon said after the Rockets officially clinched a postseason berth.
After hosting the Spurs, the No. 1 seeded Houston Rockets will stay at home to host the Los Angeles Clippers on Thursday before starting a three-game road trip. Meanwhile, the Spurs will return home for a six-game homestead starting with a contest against the Orlando Magic on Wednesday AEDT. Houston Rockets vs San Antonio Spurs live streaming, Rockets vs Spurs live streaming and NBA live streaming info follows.
Rockets vs Spurs live stream: Watch NBA online
Date: Monday, March 12 (Tuesday AEDT)
Start Time: 7 p.m. CT (Local Time), 11 a.m. AEDT
TV Channel: ESPN (USA), ESPN (Australia)
Live Stream: NBA League Pass (Global), WatchESPN (Australia), WatchESPN (USA)
