http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/story.hts/sports/bk/bkn/rox/2178777 SAN ANTONIO -- Not meaning to disparage, and certainly with no offense intended, it has to be said: There were times Friday night that Rockets coach Jeff Van Gundy seemed happy. The best indication of this might have come during the timeouts at SBC Center. As they have through the preseason, timeouts brought immediate feedback. He clapped cheerfully. He talked to Kelvin Cato about his strong play at power forward, and against Tim Duncan no less. He got in the face of Torraye Braggs to mark Braggs' flurry of offensive rebounds. When San Antonio Spurs reserve Devin Brown crashed into an immovable Yao Ming, Van Gundy and Patrick Ewing even shared a laugh. There would be plenty to correct as well. But that only served to make the Rockets' final preseason game everything Van Gundy could want. The Rockets beat the Spurs 84-63 before 16,143 fans, showing how far they have come. "We're just getting better," Cato said. "We're buying into the system. The stuff Jeff's putting up there we're starting to understand. In training camp, same old team, new coach, which is hard. Now everybody is starting to understand what he wants from his players." For the Rockets, who finished the preseason at 4-4, any win in San Antonio is valued. The Rockets had lost their past eight preseason or regular-season games in San Antonio and still have an 11-game regular-season skid in the city. In Duncan's six previous seasons, the Spurs have beaten the Rockets in 19 of 23 regular-season meetings. Van Gundy would not say a 21-point preseason win would chase any demons or even that the Rockets have any emotional issues about playing the Spurs. "I don't think anything that's happened previously has anything to do with what happens in the future, but winning helps," he said. Those who had been punished so often in the SBC Center and Alamodome will take what they can get. "It's great to win anytime you play San Antonio," Rockets guard Steve Francis said. "I think it goes into how hard we're working. Our practices have been good. We're executing better. "We came in the first two or three days and played a game with a brand-new system. It was hard for us to come in and learn a new system and try to execute it. I thought we did a good job adjusting." The Rockets have come so far since their slow-motion start of the preseason that by the time Duncan, the Spurs' two-time MVP, sat for the night with 6:34 left, the Rockets' lead surpassed 20 as Van Gundy cleared his bench. The Rockets trailed for just 17 seconds against the defending champions Friday -- the only time they have trailed in the last three games of the preseason. In the first four games, the Rockets trailed for 91.7 percent of the games. In the last four games of the preseason, the Rockets have led or have been tied with their opponents for 98 percent of the time. "The goal every day and every game is to win and improve," Van Gundy said. "You don't want to have to lose to make corrections. We just have to keep building. We're trying to get better every day. I think we've made improvements." The most marked improvement has been defensively. On Friday, the Rockets held the Spurs to 28.6 percent shooting and limited Duncan to a 5-of-15 night. "It was a great game," Spurs coach Gregg Popovich joked. "We kicked their butts and showed them a thing or two. I'm sure they'll be afraid of us the next time we play them." But even beyond the Spurs' shooting troubles, the Rockets feel encouraged by Jim Jackson's best shooting game of the preseason (6-of-10 for 14 points); another solid night by Yao (8-of-14 for 17 points to go with 12 rebounds); and the continued improvement of Bostjan Nachbar (3-of-5 for eight points.) On top of all that, in one day Braggs seemed to have gone from barely keeping a job to a key reserve. He made 4 of 5 shots for his eight points and added six rebounds and three assists. "We have a long way to go," Jackson said. "A lot of work has to be done. But we're taking those tiny steps toward being a good team. We can't look at four wins like we've arrived. We haven't done anything." Van Gundy couldn't have gushed it better himself. ---- 我們越來越像一支訓練有素的勁旅了！！！ ---- --

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