Everything was set up for this to be a triumphant game for the Portland Trail Blazers. A win and the Blazers would advance to the knockout round of the Emirates NBA Cup, but they couldn’t get the job done, falling to the San Antonio Spurs 115 – 102 in a physically-punishing tangle at Moda Center. Turnovers, poor rebounding, and atrocious three-point shooting sealed Portland’s fate.
After a reasonably close game for three quarters, the Spurs pulled away in the fourth. An attempt at a comeback was easily stifled by the Portland’s own inability to hit open threes.
This one is easy. On a night when 11 out of 12 Blazers who took the court ranged from ok to terrible, Deni Avdija was outstanding. When the Blazers were absolutely reeling in the third quarter, Avdija kept the Blazers in the game nearly single-handedly, alternately drilling three-pointers and driving and drawing the foul for a three-point play. Avdija had 32 points before any teammate achieved double digits. He finished with 37 points, 8 assists and 6 boards. Avdija shot 62.5% from deep on 5 of 8 shooting, yet remarkably Portland shot 25% from deep as a team. The only numbers to mar his performance were six turnovers, and strangely, 57.1% shooting from the free-throw line.
The Blazers lost the turnover battle 18 to 9. Yes, the Blazers have key injuries, but giving the opponents so many extra possessions is a recipe for disaster. Steals look even worse, with the Spurs tallying 12 and the Blazers only 3. Those numbers are a far cry from what the healthier Blazers were able to achieve at the beginning of the season.
Give the Spurs credit. They made some incredibly difficult shots tonight. This wasn’t a Portland defensive master class by any means, but the number of well-defended shots that San Antonio cashed was the difference in the game, at least until the fourth-quarter surrender.
Sub-70% free-throw shooting and sub-30% heaving from beyond the arc certainly didn’t help matters either. All told, this was a winnable game in which Portland simply played below the required standard.
We’ll also be keeping an eye on Donovan Clingan, who looked like he was limping late in the fourth quarter.
The Blazers get to celebrate Thanksgiving in Portland before hosting the Oklahoma Thunder at 3pm Pacific on Sunday.