The Portland Trail Blazers carried a 6-2 record into their matchup against the San Antonio Spurs on Saturday night. Unfortunately that was the only new thing they brought to the party. Once the ball tipped, this game looked like a throwback to last season. Portland had trouble starting any kind of offense. The Spurs played well defensively, forcing Portland into deep and difficult shots. The Blazers couldn’t hit enough of them to keep up with San Antonio’s three-point shooting, talented guards, and All-World
center Victor Wembanyama. The result was a largely spirit-less 125-103 loss.
Victor Wembanyama led the Spurs with 29 points. Damian Lillard paced Portland with 15.
The Blazers had trouble in this one from the start. San Antonio ran off 10 straight points early in the first and took a healthy lead. Portland wanted to chip away, but they couldn’t find a bucket with a blueprint and a GPS. Missed threes typified their effort. Under those conditions, every turnover—and there were plenty—was like a dagger to the heart.
Portland was missing Shaedon Sharpe, Ja Morant, Vit Krejci, and tonight Robert Williams III because of back-to-back rest. It really showed, especially in the middle parts of quarters. The Spurs weren’t playing brilliant defense. The Blazers had them moving around. But they didn’t have to defend like World Champs when the ball was moving to Chris Youngblood, Sidy Cissoko, and Yang Hansen. That’s not a slight on any of those players. All have shown promise. But let’s face it: the Spurs were playing for a trophy last season while that trio was vying for minutes with the Rip City Remix. Portland’s reserves weren’t exactly bending the floor.
Portland had only 49 points at the half. This was very 2025 of them, not at all reflecting their offensive improvement in the early parts of this season.
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The Blazers have a couple days off before facing the Oklahoma City Thunder on Tuesday night at 8:00 PM, Pacific.
