How did the San Antonio Spurs turn it around and blowout the Rockets in Game 2?

The Spurs engineered a 52-point swing from Game 1 to Game 2. How’d they do it? An excerpt:

After showing the look for only two minutes in Game 1, the Spurs played small with only one true big man on the floor for 17 minutes during the competitive portion of Game 2. That total included the crucial first seven minutes of the fourth quarter when they blew the game open by outscoring the Rockets 23–5. Some of that quarter-opening run even featured the Spurs playing small without Kawhi — Simmons was the power forward alongside Parker, Mills, and Ginobili.

In all, the Spurs outscored the Rockets by 21 points during their 17 small-ball minutes. It’s going to be difficult to break those looks out again going forward if Parker’s injury is serious, and Pop generally doesn’t like going small if he doesn’t absolutely have to, but this is a configuration that deserves a hard look over the rest of the series.

Read the full story at The Step Back.