The Portland Trail Blazers had a ready-made chance to punch their ticket to the 2025 NBA Cup Tournament on Wednesday night, welcoming the San Antonio Spurs (without Victor Wembanyama) to the Moda Center. A win was all Portland needed to take Group C of the Cup competition. And…a win is exactly what they didn’t get. Even without their All-World center, the Spurs beat Portland at their own game: rebounding hard, forcing turnovers, and scoring big with guards. San Antonio ended up taking the game 115-102.
The Blazers are now eliminated from Cup contention. Facing the reality that their current roster is too thin and too hurt, they’ll nurse an 8-11 record in their first 19 games as they head back to the drawing board and figure out what to do in the next stretch of the season.
Here are a few of the interesting factors from the game.
Rebounds
The Blazers have been monster offensive rebounders over the last two weeks but the Spurs gave them all they could handle and more tonight. San Antonio notched 20 offensive boards against 12 for Portland. The Blazers’ offense was impoverished by the lack of extra shots, particularly when combined with forcing only 9 turnovers.
When the final horn sounded, San Antonio had attempted 101 field goals, Portland 87. That makes it hard for Portland to win.
In the Zone
I don’t often editorialize in recaps, but I’m going to do it here. After deemphasizing zone defense for a couple games, the Blazers went back to it tonight. It wasn’t steady, but it was there. And I kinda hate it.
Giving them credit, here are the ways a zone makes sense for Portland:
- San Antonio isn’t a great perimeter shooting team but they’re good inside the arc. Crowding them down there is a good idea.
- Portland can’t play a big center all game long. Keeping their forwards inside helps.
- When they do play Donovan Clingan, keeping him near the rim also helps.
- Portland’s athleticism should make them devastating guarding an area. They can cover it! They’re demons in the passing lanes.
- Zoning up might conserve a little bit of energy.
Even with all that, Portland’s defense shines when the team is aggressive. It’s harder to generate naked, turnover-forcing aggression from the zone. Traps aren’t the same, often not even possible. It feels like taking a bunch of Viking Raiders and cramming them into a Roman shield formation. Can they do it? Sure. Are they as special that way? Nope.
I’m pretty sure injuries are contributing to the decision to zone up. I hope over time it disappears from Portland’s playbook.
Denitime, Deniplace
When things go wrong, Deni Avdija has become Portland’s one-man answer. He had as good of a second quarter as we’ve seen all season. He bailed out his team in the third when the Spurs were threatening to run away with the game too. Those outbursts were mileposts on his way to 37 points on 12-19 shooting, 5-8 from distance. His three-point shot is confident–a flamethrower, really–and his drives quick. He’s just dominating out there.
The only quibbles with his game were 6 turnovers, a consistent feature of his play, and him appearing to tire down the stretch, missing multiple free throws. Considering how he carried the squad on his back, you can’t complain too much.
Clingan Offense
On the other end of the spectrum is Donovan Clingan, whose offense looks like an antifreeze puddle in a grocery store parking lot. Clingan had 11 rebounds, 6 offensive, in 26 minutes. That’s great. But he shot only 3-8 from the field and looked markedly hesitant to take any attempt outside of half a foot away from the bucket. The issue is becoming that the Blazers can’t live without Clingan on defense, but can’t live with him on offense.
Tou Too
One of the big questions of the 2025-26 season: Where did Toumani Camara’s shot go? Last year he shot 37% from the three-point arc. This year he’s around 32% and tonight he shot 2-11 from distance. Granted, lots of Camara’s attempts came from the corner last season and this year he’s mixing it up a little more, but still…those looks are open. And the Blazers would look better if he hit them. This game was still within 6 with a couple minutes left. A couple of threes would have made a big difference.
Sharpe Return
Shaedon Sharpe made his return to the lineup after an extended absence due to injury. He came off the bench, playing 22 minutes and scoring 11 points on 4-8 shooting, 0-3 beyond the arc.
Outfoxed
De’Aaron Fox hasn’t hurt the Blazers much since his Sacramento days, but he used to BBQ Portland regularly back then. It looks like he remembered that tonight. He hit four shots in the third to push his team in front, the first real separation of the game. He continued to sparkle in the fourth, finishing with 33 points–his high with the Spurs–plus 8 assists, 6 rebounds, and 3 steals. Ouch.
Up Next
The Blazers get a few days of much-needed rest before welcoming the Oklahoma City Thunder to the Moda Center on Sunday afternoon at 3:00 PM.
