{"id":310264,"date":"2025-11-27T12:58:08","date_gmt":"2025-11-27T12:58:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/310264\/"},"modified":"2025-11-27T12:58:08","modified_gmt":"2025-11-27T12:58:08","slug":"blazers-ousted-get-first-taste-of-playoff-like-test-in-nba-cup-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/310264\/","title":{"rendered":"Blazers ousted, get ‘first taste’ of playoff-like test in NBA Cup"},"content":{"rendered":"

PORTLAND, Ore. — The Trail Blazers entered Wednesday night\u2019s game at the Moda Center with a chance to clinch Group C in the NBA Cup\u2019s West bracket with a victory. That was spoiled, however, in a 115-102 loss to the San Antonio Spurs<\/a>, who left with their own win-and-you\u2019re-in scenario in Group C heading into Friday night\u2019s finale in Denver.<\/p>\n

For both teams, the NBA Cup represents an opportunity to play meaningful games after spending recent seasons out of the playoff mix.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe wanted it,\u201d said Portland\u2019s Deni Avdija<\/a>, who scored a team-high 37 points. \u201cWe wanted that game. It was a good opportunity for us to advance in the Cup. We fought. We tried to be in the game. It was a tough game; it was a close game.<\/p>\n

\u201cI feel like it was a first taste of kind of like a playoff game. I know I\u2019m not experienced, other guys are not experienced yet, and it was a tough test for us, but I think from this game we can learn a lot.\u201d<\/p>\n

With veteran guard Jrue Holiday<\/a> sidelined by a calf strain, joining Damian Lillard<\/a> and Matisse Thybulle<\/a> on the injury report, the Blazers played just two players with playoff experience Wednesday: forward Jerami Grant<\/a> and center Robert Williams<\/a> III.<\/p>\n

By contrast, San Antonio\u2019s lineup had somewhat more experience with three veteran starters who have reached the playoffs in Harrison Barnes<\/a>, De\u2019Aaron Fox and Luke Kornet<\/a>, plus reserves Kelly Olynyk<\/a> and Lindy Waters III<\/a>. However, the Spurs\u2019 young core of recent first-round picks Dylan Harper<\/a>, Stephon Castle<\/a> and Victor Wembanyama<\/a> has yet to taste the postseason. Harper returned from a calf strain Wednesday, while Castle and Wembanyama remained out with injuries.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe guys get excited about it,\u201d San Antonio coach Mitch Johnson said of the team\u2019s game Friday against the Nuggets, a matchup that will send the winner to the NBA Cup quarterfinals and eliminate the loser. \u201cI\u2019m not trying to even downplay it. Everything helps this group. We\u2019re so early in terms of the journey and trying to grow together, get healthy together, learn each other.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cObviously, guys want to get to Vegas, they want to play in the championship game,\u201d Fox said. \u201cI don\u2019t know what it\u2019s like in other locker rooms, but in the two that I\u2019ve been in, I don\u2019t know if I would say guys are playing harder, but guys know what\u2019s at stake and it\u2019s definitely mentioned.\u201d<\/p>\n

Fox was a big reason the Spurs still have something at stake. He matched Avdija with 37 points Wednesday, his most since being traded to San Antonio in February, with 23 of them coming after halftime.<\/p>\n

\u201cI couldn\u2019t make anything in the first quarter,\u201d Fox said. \u201cI couldn\u2019t make anything, but the team continues to look at me to be aggressive regardless if I\u2019m making shots or not. Just keep the pressure on and then I think I got to the free throw line 12 times, right?\u201d<\/p>\n

Indeed, Fox made all 12 of his free throw attempts after going 14-of-16 Sunday in Phoenix.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s been an All-Star in this league,\u201d Johnson said. \u201cHe\u2019s been in the playoffs. He\u2019s seen a lot. He\u2019s lost more than he\u2019s wanted too, as well. Our guys look to him. … It\u2019s nice to just see him in a Spurs jersey hitting his stride a little bit, even if he hasn\u2019t been here much.\u201d<\/p>\n

As San Antonio tries to move on the NBA Cup, Portland will hope to carry lessons from a November game with more on the line than usual.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think it was a disappointing loss, but it was a good loss for us to learn because we\u2019re going to be in those positions in the future,\u201d Avdija said. \u201cObviously, we wanted a win, but definitely a good test for us for years to come.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"PORTLAND, Ore. — The Trail Blazers entered Wednesday night\u2019s game at the Moda Center with a chance to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":310265,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[434],"tags":[49,48,459,87973,82],"class_list":{"0":"post-310264","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nba","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-canada","10":"tag-nba","11":"tag-portland-trail-blazers-sports-basketball-team-team-statscom-22","12":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/310264","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=310264"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/310264\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/310265"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=310264"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=310264"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=310264"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}