NBA, Spurs vs Trail Blazers, Portland: Missing their star player Damian Lillard in this match, Blazers were outmuscled by the San Antonio Spurs at home. They are now 11-12 in the 2021 NBA season.
The highest scorers for the host were CJ McCollum and Norman Powell with 16 points each. (A little less than what was needed.) Norman Powell was awful from the field with 3-13. From the 16 he scored, eight came from the foul line although he was 100% from there.
The game started with the Spurs shooting the well relatively well but great as compared to the hosts who were basically missing everything. Powell and Nurkic were the leaders of that phase. The help came from Robert Covington who made a three and tipped in a rebound plus had an assist as well.
As the offense got going from there on, Blazers were basically sleeping on the other end. The visitors were scoring as they liked. Spurs’ threes and run-outs made the Blazers seem downright fragile. Spurs led the opener 32-22, an embarrassing scoreboard for the Blazers.
The second period too didn’t differ much too. Spurs excelled in the paint to the start of the second. To put salt on the wounds, Anfernee Simons got injured and could not return to the contest. CJ got the license to handle the ball and he did not disappoint, however, Spurs pour threes on the other end of the floor. They would end the half with 11 threes and their average threes per game is only 10. Leading 68-47 at the break.
The energy changed for the host after the break as they tried much more shots but could not make majority of those. Their opponent tried pretty much half of the shots but were efficient.
To finish the quarter from then on was just a fitness test, as teams were running from end to end giving the ball to one other. Although Portland went on a 15-4 run near the end however could only get as close as 16 points. The score read 84-65, Spurs after three.
Fourth-quarter was the real deal for the host as they were blazing. Their bench showed intent which the starters were missing. They were successful in bringing the score down to 12 with still 8:30 remaining.
That was where it ended. Bryn Forbes hit a couple of threes and the rally was done. As Steve Jones used to say, getting down big requires everything to go perfectly. It didn’t.
For San Antonio, the starting five were all double-digit. Dejounte Murray for instance had a 15 point double-double. They were also aided by Bryn Forbes scoring game-high 18 points shooting 77.8% from the field.
PITP(Points in the paint) were 54 for the visitors outscoring the host’s 26 points. The same was the case for POT(Points of Turnovers) with Spurs leading 27-14.
The Blazers were on a 10 game winning streak at home which is not snapped by the San Antonio Spurs.
