Photo by Andrew D. Bernstein/NBAE via Getty Images The third official Spurs store in San Antonio opens its doors. Flying in for the Spurs game? Hey, some people do it. Manu’s final seasons saw droves of flights full of fans from Buenos Aires hoping to catch their hero one last time. Last season, one of our own Pounders, Tanner Bowen …

Daniel Dunn-USA TODAY Sports In this week’s roundtable, the PtR staff breaks down why the Spurs seem to be at their best against quality opponents, discuss what Lonnie Walker IV’s role should be going forward, and much more. The Spurs had a roller coaster of a week. A win against the Clippers signaled that perhaps things were starting to turn …

Photo by Tim Warner/Getty Images The Rockets want the final 7:50 of the game replayed after Harden’s missed dunk. The Rockets are officially filing a protest with the NBA over the outcome of the Tuesday’s 135-133 double-OT Spurs win due to a dunk by James Harden that was missed by the officials and not counted in the score. Per ESPN: …

Daniel Dunn-USA TODAY Sports Determining if one blown call really caused the Rockets to lose and make the outcome worthy of a protest. As was reported yesterday, the Rockets are expected file a protest with the league over the outcome of Tuesday’s game against the Spurs, during which Houston lost in double-overtime after giving up a 22-point lead. (They have …

Photos by Mark Sobhani/NBAE via Getty Images Three of last season’s shooters are in a serious slump. Can they recover and save the season? After leading the league in three point accuracy last season, the Spurs have plummeted to 17th this year, hitting a paltry 35.3% of their attempts from deep. For a team that takes the fewest threes in …

Sport your perm . . . and not in an ironic way. The Spurs are going all fiesta throwback when they host the Sacramento Kings tomorrow night at the AT&T Center. Each fan in attendance on Friday night will receive a retro t-shirt inspired by the 1996 NBA All-Star Game, which took place in San Antonio. The Spurs will also …

Daniel Dunn-USA TODAY Sports Forbes’ night was understandably overshadowed by Walker and Poeltl, but his consistent shooting kept the Spurs afloat. About eight hours before the start of the game between the San Antonio Spurs and Houston Rockets, my wife and I were at the airport in New York City. Coincidentally enough, our flight back to San Antonio had a …

Daniel Dunn-USA TODAY Sports In their 135-133 double overtime win over the Rockets, the Spurs’ fortunes looked dim, but swung on a breakaway dunk that wasn’t scored. So let’s give it a name. With 7:53 left in the 4th quarter of Tuesday’s Spurs–Rockets game, James Harden picked off an errant DeMarre Carroll pass and took it the other way, with …

Daniel Dunn-USA TODAY Sports More proof that box scores and stats aren’t always what they seem. One of my first pieces with Pounding the Rock five years ago was entitled How a Coach Reads a Box Score. In that piece, I wrote the following: “Since I stopped coaching, I have continued to closely examine box scores after games. What I …

Photo by Ronald Cortes/Getty Images With Russell Westbrook’s help, of course. Maybe the Spurs should only play good teams. No offense to the Pistons, but what happened in San Antonio against the Clippers on Friday and against the Rockets last night bears little resemblance to the 48 minutes of shoot around that broke out in Detroit on Sunday afternoon. It’s …

Isaiah J. Downing-USA TODAY Sports A Harden dunk was not counted. We empathize, but it’s not enough reason to overturn the outcome of a game. Last night’s double-OT victory over the Rockets was perhaps the Spurs most thrilling regular season game since last season’s double-OT victory over the Thunder in January. Lonnie Walker IV’s brilliant, breakout performance of 28 points …

Photos by Logan Riely/NBAE via Getty Images Hyperbole? Please. Relative to how bad San Antonio has been playing, the case can be made. Let’s start at the end and go backwards. 135-133. Spurs win. The Spurs pulled off a double-overtime victory over the Houston Rockets to comeback from a twenty-two point deficit in the second half. Head coach Gregg Popovich …