The Houston Rockets and the San Antonio Spurs are the top two teams in the southwest division in the western conference and heading towards 2014 they are two teams with playoff and championship aspirations and each will have an early test on Christmas night, as they are playing the fourth of five games on the NBA schedule at the AT&T Center and the game starts up at 8 PM.
Dwight Howard and Tim Duncan will be the main focus on each side of the ball and the Spurs come into the game with one of the best records in the NBA and they have continued to play very well this season after making it to the finals and losing to the Miami Heat in seven games. The Spurs play back to back against the Dallas Mavericks on the road on Thursday and they come into the game after winning over the Toronto Raptors on Monday night and in that game Tony Parker led the way with 26 points and eight assists, while Duncan added 12 rebounds. The team comes into the game ranked in the top five in points allowed and assists in the NBA and they are ranked in the top 10 in scoring with 103 points per contest. Howard has been playing very well since signing over from the Lakers as a free agent and he has helped the team rank as one of the best rebounding squads in the league.
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The Rockets are coming into the game after losing to the Dallas Mavericks on Monday and they will next play the Memphis Grizzlies at home after the game against the Spurs. The team has been one of the best offensive units in the NBA, scoring over 105 points per game and while the defense has not been up to snuff, the Rockets are scoring enough to win games and they are currently second in the division behind the Spurs.
Dwight Howard comes into the game on Christmas after scoring 29 points and grabbing 15 rebounds against the Mavericks and in that game Francisco Garcia ended up leading the team with six assists. The Rockets have been mentioned in numerous trade rumors involving center Omer Asik this season and while it appeared that the team was close to dealing him, they instead opted to hang onto him and took Asik off the trade block...for now. Asik easily could be dealt this season closer to the deadline with the way the Rockets have been using him and even though he is disgruntled, he has been a team player and players like James Harden and Howard have said that they are happy he remains with the team.
