With 7:22 left in the fourth quarter Monday, Spurs center Dewayne Dedmon picked up his second technical foul, this one for jawing with Houston's Patrick Beverley.

He did not pass Go, but jogged directly into the locker room, ejected from Game 1 of the Western Conference semifinals.

It hardly seemed fair the rest of the Spurs had to stick around to watch what was left of this abomination.

Behind a 3-point barrage unprecedented in either team's playoff history, the Rockets routed the Spurs 126-99 at the AT&T Center, delivering the type of series-opening salvo that could test the losing team's ability to recover.

"At this point," Spurs guard Manu Ginobili said, trying to sort out the postmortem, "we feel like everything we did was wrong."

With James Harden playing maestro on his way to 20 points and 14 rebounds, and the Spurs' own offense going M.I.A., Houston gave Gregg Popovich the largest Game 1 loss of his career.

The previous worst was a 19-point shellacking against New Orleans to open the 2008 Western Conference semifinals, a series the Spurs eventually won in seven games.

If the Spurs aim to get past the Rockets in this series, they will require a Haz-Mat crew to clean up all that went awry Monday.

Start with the 3-point line, where Houston made a franchise playoff-record 22 shots, attempting an NBA playoff-record 50.

"I don't think we executed in a very wise manner," said Popovich, whose team had never allowed more than 15 3-pointers in a postseason game before Monday. "We disobeyed a lot of basic basketball rules that they can take advantage of."

The Spurs were behind by 11 points at the end of the first quarter, a deficit that swelled to an almost unbelievable 69-39 at half.

There was no coming back from that.

Trevor Ariza threw in 23 points and five 3-pointers for the Rockets. Clint Capela chipped in 20 points and 13 rebounds. Ryan Anderson had 14 points and another four 3-pointers.

Afterward, the Rockets said all the right things.

"It's big, but we can't settle," is how Harden framed a night that saw his team lead by as many as 39. "Game 1 is good for us, but we have to get greedy."

Curiously for a coach whose team had just given up 126 points and more 3-pointers than any other club in franchise history, Popovich spent most of his postgame presser bemoaning the Spurs' lack of offense.

Back to Gallery Rockets make statement, humble Spurs in Game 1 5 1 of 5 Photo: Karen Warren/Houston Chronicle 2 of 5 Photo: Karen Warren/Houston Chronicle 3 of 5 Photo: Edward A. Ornelas/San Antonio Express-News 4 of 5 Photo: Edward A. Ornelas/San Antonio Express-News 5 of 5 Photo: Karen Warren/Houston Chronicle









Quick shots, he said, led to missed shots which led to run-out opportunities for the ultra-athletic Rockets that were near-impossible to defend.

"If we're going to shoot quickly and shoot poorly, it's going to be a fast-break deal all night long," said Popovich, whose team was 31 of 84 with 15 turnovers. "And they're better at that than we are."

Save for Kawhi Leonard, who had 21 points, 11 rebounds and six assists in 32 minutes, the offensive meltdown was more or less a team effort.

Reserve the opposite of a gold star for LaMarcus Aldridge, who labored through his worst playoff game as a Spur.

Coming into Monday, the Spurs thought they could use the five-time All-Star's size to punish Houston's small-ball lineups.

That didn't happen.

Aldridge finished with four points, had as many field goals as turnovers (two), and seemed unsure of himself all night.

"I definitely have to help out Kawhi," Aldridge said. "He competed, we all competed, but I have to take my time down there and make them pay."

Even when the Spurs could get Aldridge matched on a Rocket he should abuse, it didn't work out.

One example, early in the second quarter: Aldridge had the ball with nothing between him and the basket but Beverley, the Rockets' 6-foot-2 point guard.

Beverley stripped him, giving way to a Lou Williams 3-pointer the other way.

"I've just got to take my time," Aldridge said. "I thought tonight I was trying to rush because there were so many mismatches on me."

It was a far cry from Game 1 of last year's conference semifinals, when Aldridge erupted for 38 points and the Spurs beat Oklahoma City by 31.

The Thunder recovered to win that series, a memory that offers the Spurs only lukewarm comfort now.

Popovich said he doesn't worry about a carryover for Wednesday's Game 2. Ginobili, the Spurs' oldest player, said he frankly didn't know how this Spurs team will react.

"We're not used to something like this happening," Ginobili said.

With 9:27 left in a game already far gone, Popovich subbed in rookie point guard Dejounte Murray, the last member of his bench.

He was officially waving the white flag. The Rockets had long since signaled their intention to offer no quarter.

By then, the answer seemed obvious. Maybe Dedmon had the right idea.

jmcdonald@express-news.net

Twitter: @JMcDonald_SAEN