Live from the Moda Center as the Portland Trail Blazers host the San Antonio Spurs.
Most of the Spurs, that is. Tim Duncan, Tony Parker, Manu Ginobili, and Tiago Splitter are all getting the Coach Pop treatment, resting on the pine for the second night of a back-to-back. The Spurs that annihilated the Blazers in the playoffs last year? They aren’t walking through that door.
Portland may be facing San Antonio’s B-team, but their B-team is still better than almost every team in the Eastern Conference. And hey, Kawhi Leonard is still suiting up. Dude was an assist away from a 5×5 in last night’s win in Denver. San Antonio will be fine.
It’s the first contest back after a grueling road trip for the Blazers, so this one has trap game written all over it. This is not a game to be taken lightly. (Insert Boris Diaw fat joke here.)
PRE-GAME:
When the Blazers last played at home, Wesley Matthews was just third in made threes for the franchise, Damian Lillard’s car was dirty, and Robin Lopez wasn’t wanted in the state of Michigan for Mascoticide. My, how things change.
The Blazers went 3-2 on their road trip. When you consider it was five games in seven nights, that’s a good result. When you consider one of their losses was against the Minnesota Timberwolves…
With recent games against Minnesota, New York, and Detroit, the Blazers have now faced fourth-easiest schedule in the league. Oof. Hopefully it’s just a matter of them playing down to their opposition, because this team hasn’t looked that sharp as of late. The good news is they’re still ranked in the top ten in offensive and defensive efficiency, but once their schedule gets harder those numbers are going to drop.
Matt Bonner and Aron Baynes are starting. Austin Daye, Jeff Ayres, and Kyle Anderson should all see some minutes. Get excited.
FIRST QUARTER:
10:58 – Wesley Matthews breaks the scoring open with a step-back triple to beat the shot clock buzzer. Must be those fancy new red arm sleeves he’s rocking tonight. 3-0 Blazers.
9:43 – The bucket didn’t fall, but Dame just had one of the prettier plays I’ve seen him make. He went behind the back to avoid the pressure from Danny Green, drove the lane, and threw a no look bounce pass behind him to a cutting Robin Lopez. 3-2 Blazers.
8:25 – Another three for Matthews, who has all of Portland’s points thus far. 7-2 Blazers.
6:50 – LaMarcus Aldridge had missed his first three jumpers. Once he finally took it strong to the rim, he scored with ease over Aron Baynes. Timeout Spurs. Coach Pop didn’t like that look one bit. 9-4 Blazers.
6:16 – Matthews has hit three triples from the same exact spot in the left corner. 12-6 Blazers.
4:16 – Steve Blake and Chris Kaman are both crouched at the scorer’s table, waiting to check in. True Detective, Season Three? 14-12 Blazers.
1:06 – The Spurs don’t have a point guard in the game, so I guess Marco Belinelli is running things? Funny, because they just turned the ball over and Allen Crabbe and an uncontested dunk. 20-18 Blazers.
0:00 – If there is a better play than Will Barton pulling up from thirty feet out to beat the buzzer over two Spurs, I don’t want to know what it is. Leave it to The People’s Champ to finally wake this crowd up. 23-20 Blazers.
SECOND QUARTER:
11:48 – The Blazers ran a package play to get Will Barton an alley-oop look to start the quarter. He had to go up high for it, and somehow managed to redirect the pass to Chris Kaman who finished it. A double oop? 25-20 Blazers.
8:34 – Want to see a riot? Try calling a mid-court foul on Will Barton. This place is having none of that. 27-26 Blazers.
8:07 – The left corner is hot. This time Allen Crabbe nailed a near-triple from where Matthews was having success earlier. Don’t shoot from anywhere else, y’all. 29-26 Blazers.
5:54 – A couple of turnovers, a couple of free throws, and the Blazers have opened up their largest lead of the night. 35-26 Blazers.
4:00 – Well, that was a quick 7-0 run for San Antonio. Ugh. 38-35 Blazers.
2:56 – Dame stole a rebound, took it the length of the court, and beat Kawhi Leonard one on one to the rim for the layup around two big men. He’s got twelve points and six rebounds already, as well as a personal 4-0 run. Timeout Spurs. 42-37 Blazers.
1:00 – Aron Baynes dunk. Drink! 46-41 Blazers.
0:00 – Steve Blake had a look at the end of the quarter…and he missed. He’s, what, 1-9 on quarter-ending shots this season? Those things never seem to drop. 48-43 Blazers.
THIRD QUARTER:
11:30 – Dame connects with LaMarcus for the long jumper to start the quarter. Lillard had tweaked his ankle at the end of the second quarter, but he looks just fine so far. 50-43 Blazers.
9:48 – Cory Joseph connects from the same corner that Matthews and Crabbe hit from in the first half. Keep the Spurs out of that spot, please. 52-48 Blazers.
7:09 – Both Aldridge and Lopez have missed bunnies off of nice passes from Dame. If dudes weren’t out here screwing up his assist numbers, we’d be on triple double watch right now. 54-50 Blazers.
6:22 – Boris Diaw’s ass just picked up an and-one on Aldridge. 56-52 Blazers.
4:22 – So Robin Lopez went back to the locker room a couple of minutes ago and still hasn’t surfaced. It looked like maybe he was bleeding, but he’s been gone for awhile. Hopefully he’s not injured… 61-56 Blazers.
3:22 – Dame is not scored of any of these San Antonio big men. He’s been taking it to the rim with reckless abandon all night, and picked up two freebies for his trouble. 65-59 Blazers.
2:58 – The Spurs put Danny Green on Lillard in an attempt to slow him down, and Dame blew right past him for an easy basket at the rim. 67-60 Blazers.
2:26 – Dame hit Allen Crabbe in the lane for an acrobatic and-one. Crabbe fell, threw it up, and somehow the ball bounced up and fell in. That’s 18 points, 9 rebounds, and 6 assists for Lillard on the night. 70-60 Blazers.
0:40 – LaMarcus with an offensive rebound, triple pivot, put back layup with the left hand. That was something. 74-65 Blazers.
0:08 – LaMarcus goes back to the same pivot, up and under with the left. He burned Boris Diaw twice on that play in the span of fifteen seconds. 76-68 Blazers.
0:00 – The Blazers lead after three (behind a great third quarter from Aldridge), but it’s still a little too close for comfort. These B-Teamers are frisky. 76-68 Blazers.
FOURTH QUARTER:
11:21 – The Blazers are going to be without Lopez for the rest of the game—he’s out with a right hand injury. No word on the severity yet (pleasebeokaypleasebeokaypleasebeokay), but get ready for all the Chris Kaman you can handle in the fourth. And right on cue, Kaman sinks a fifteen-foot jumper. 78-70 Blazers.
10:14 – Joel Freeland versus Matt Bonner in the post, and everything is right with the world. 82-72 Blazers.
8:59 – Thomas Robinson sighting! 86-77 Blazers.
8:39 – Dame corralled his own miss (his tenth board of the night), and calmly stepped up and sunk a three. 89-77 Blazers.
7:26 – A Joel Freeland jumper gets a single thumbs up from Meyers Leonard on the bench. 91-81 Blazers.
5:37 – If the offense is scuffling, go right to Aldridge in the post. The Spurs don’t have anyone that can stay with him, as evidenced by the and-one he drew on Aron Baynes. 94-84 Blazers.
4:37 – Batum hit a three! Drink! 97-88 Blazers.
3:36 – Aldridge barely missed a running hook in the lane. Two Spurs battled for the rebound and knocked it away from each other, right into Aldridge’s hands. He was fouled and hit both freebies. It’s just not San Antonio’s night. 99-90 Blazers.
2:52 – Yep, Thomas Robinson hit a baseline jumper. Definitely not San Antonio’s night. 101-90 Blazers.
2:21 – The Spurs are resorting to hack-a-Robinson. It might be a good strategy with Robinson only hitting one of two, but we’re close to the two minute mark so that’s probably the last time that’s going to happen. 104-91 Blazers.
1:01 – Dame dribbled out the shot clock, drove, and sunk a little floater over Leonard. And that’ll do it. 106-95 Blazers.
0:44 – Okay, no, that will do it. Wesley Matthews poked the ball away, Thomas Robinson tracked it down, and had himself a breakaway dunk. Timeout San Antonio, and here come the subs on both sides. 108-95 Blazers.
FINAL: 108-95 Blazers. Hate to put an asterisk next to that win, but the Spurs did sit a bunch of their star players. But defeating the team that bounced you from the playoffs the previous year is a good look, full squad or no. On to the next one.