The Portland Trail Blazers dropped Game 3 of their first-round NBA Playoffs series to the San Antonio Spurs on Friday night by a 120-108 final score. The Blazers scored 65 points in the first half and built a double-digit lead on the visiting Spurs before disintegrating down the stretch. 43 points in the second half won’t cut it in a regular-season game, let alone in a playoffs matchup against a favored opponent. The Spurs got away with Victor Wembanyama’s absence, cruising to a win that they definitely
earned, but that Portland never should have given up.
Here are some key observations from the evening.
Scoot Plays Nice
Scoot Henderson had another fantastic game in two important aspects.
First, he continues to be a terror in midfield defense. Between the three-point arcs he might be one of the best in the NBA at this point. He gets stuck on screens way too much. That’s the remaining hole in his game. But otherwise he’s staying in front of dribblers, pressuring, and remaining a threat to intercept any passes.
Second, he was a serious threat off-ball when Deni Avdija got stuck or Jrue Holiday got prepped for a drive-and-pass. Henderson shot the three confidently and well, shooting 5-10 from distance on his way to 21 points. Again, there could be some improvement. He settles for jumpers off the dribble a bit too much when he’s in isolation situations. But damn…Scoot gave the Blazers EVERYTHING tonight. He kept his team in the action every moment he was on the floor. What a series for him so far.
Jrue is True
Much of this game was, charitably speaking, chaotic. Portland’s play was fractured, especially on offense. Through it all, Jrue Holiday provided their north star. He hit threes off the dribble whenever the point production got low. He got past his man and passed with aplomb. He settled down his teammates when they threatened to fly in all directions. Holiday seemed to tire somewhat down the stretch, but the Blazers never would have gotten ahead in the first place were it not for him.
Look at the stats: 29 points on 12-18 shooting, 5-9 from the arc, 5 assists, 6 rebounds, and 4 steals in 41 minutes. This was almost certainly Jrue’s most important game as a Trail Blazers roster member.
Spurs Strategize
From the start of the game, the Spurs seemed committed to throttling down Portland’s offense. They all but abandoned offensive rebounds in order to send 4-5 men back on defense immediately. They camped in the lane and crowded anyone who dared to enter. This impacted Avdija’s game in particular. It also had a secondary effect on Donovan Clingan, who couldn’t get free for anything but a three: no dunks, no offensive boards, nothing. This was an effective strategy as long as it lasted, but Portland still sneaky-scored their way to those 65 in the first half.
As the game wound on, the Spurs switched up and managed to get some action on the offensive glass. The Blazers never adjusted. San Antonio finished with 14 offensive rebounds, only two short of Portland’s 16. Even worse, the Spurs generated 22 second-chance points against only 12 for the Blazers. Ouch.
If Wembanyama comes back for Game 4 the Spurs will get both approaches at once. If not, Portland may want to talk about how to leverage their size AND make sure they get down the court quickly.
In any case, if you’re wondering why Avdija and Clingan didn’t look great for much of the game and why the Blazers shot a lot of threes early, this explains a large part of it.
Too Many Threes?
Speaking of, the Blazers got seduced by those open threes. Obviously they’re a viable shot option. It’s hard to pass them up because you end up dribbling or throwing the ball into extra coverage, packed inside. But Portland was too free with them too often. They also spent too much of the game, stuck in the halfcourt offense, shooting jumpers instead of going hard to the rim. It’s almost like they saw the ghost of Victor Wembanyama in the lane in a game he definitely sat out.
The Blazers ended up shooting 14-38 from distance, 37%, a credible performance but not entirely a helpful one. San Antonio hit 16-33, 48%, in return. Portland definitely needs layups and free throws to balance the Spurs’ superior shooting percentage at the arc.
Kornet Factor
Luke Kornet had another strong game with 14 points and 10 rebounds on 6-9 shooting. His major contribution was neutralizing Clingan in the lane, though. The plan was simple. Kornet would wrap up Clingan in a body-to-body armbar like this was WWE. As long as it happened under the rim, the refs ignored it. Kornet would move with the play, positioning himself as a shield, blocking off Clingan from helping against drivers or rebounding. When Portland’s perimeter defenders couldn’t quite keep up with their man, Clingan had to shove and disengage from the physical wrap-up and get around Kornet’s body. Often this left Donovan coming late to the play. When Clingan did get there, Kornet was left wide open right by the rim for an easy pass reception and bucket.
Clingan needs more experience and more leverage against the smaller Kornet. Right now he’s getting manhandled by a player that wasn’t expected to make quite that much of an impact.
Clingan had 7 points, 11 rebounds, and no blocks in 20 minutes of play.
Deni Driving
Deni Avdija’s shot was off tonight. For most of the first half, he was ineffective on offense. But as soon as the tempo sped up, he got the idea: drive into the lane no matter what. He started drawing fouls even when he wasn’t connecting on field goals. Nobody else for Portland can do what Deni does. Good night or bad, the Blazers need him to take over, Deni-style. They’ll just hope he hits more than 3 of 15 shots like he did in this one. 12-16 free throw shooting left him with 19 points nonetheless. He also had 6 rebounds and 9 assists.
Dylan Harper Game
Dylan Harper had a heck of a game for the Spurs tonight. You can look at that in a couple of ways. Next Man Up for the Spurs, yay! Or, “sAn ANtOniO LUcK iN tHe LotTeRY dUzn’T rEElY mAtTEr.” Either way, when the first overall pick in the lottery had to sit, the second overall pick in the next lottery came up with 10 points in the first four minutes of the fourth quarter on his way to 27 for the game on 9-12 shooting, 4-5 from distance. He was the guy who kept the Spurs going tonight above all others.
Where’s Toumani?
One guy who’s name we’re not calling in this game is Toumani Camara’s. He had 2 points on 1-6 shooting, 3 rebounds, 1 steal, 5 personal fouls, and 2 turnovers in 33 minutes. Some of those fouls seemed…imbalanced, but the rest was all on Tou.
Camara’s primary contributions always come on defense, but seriously, he cannot go 0-4 from the arc while the Spurs are overplaying the lane. San Antonio shot 47% from the field and the aforementioned 48% from the arc. Two of their three wing players—Harper and Stephon Castle (10-18 for 33 points)—came up huge. De’Aaron Fox didn’t do that badly.
Sum it all up and that’s zero of the things in Camara’s wheelhouse coming up right. That can’t happen.
Robert Williams Goes Big
With Clingan in foul trouble and rendered semi-ineffective, Robert Williams III stepped into the fray. He had no trouble at all handling himself. He wasn’t going to stand still and let Kornet tie him up. He could play in between players instead of smashed against one because of his speed and mobility. As a result, he was able to help effectively on drivers, shutting down the lane with a pair of blocks on his way to 11 points and 9 rebounds (6 offensive) in 25 minutes. Along with Holiday, Williams carried this game for Portland.
Our own Paul Navarre had this to say of Williams’ play:
In the Dr. Who universe, the most famous Time Lord – Dr. Who of course – was a self-appointed guardian of the universe, stepping in to protect history and subvert those who would corrupt the timeline. Tonight, our Time Lord was the guardian of space around the basket and guardian of the Blazers’ timeline. Williams was called into action early when Donovan Clingan ran into very early foul trouble, and he made himself indispensable. He seemed to regenerate wherever he was needed, making countless Spurs shots an adventure. It’s remarkable Portland was able to hold on to him at the trade deadline as he is demonstrating that he can be a difference-maker in the playoffs.
Blazers Can’t Play Small
Continuing the narrative from Mr. Navarre, he rightly notes that San Antonio survived much of the game, particularly the second half, with a small-ball lineup. Navarre observes:
When the Spurs went small in the second half, things went downhill for Portland. Two things happened simultaneously. On the offensive end, San Antonio found the range from deep. On the other end, they packed the middle, and the Blazers took the bait. Clank. Clank. Clank. Before you know it, the Blazers lead was gone.
More Shots, More of a Chance
Early on in the game, the Blazers developed a double-digit lead in shots from the field. Thanks to the Spurs’ emerging rebounding and turnover-forcing in the second half, that evaporated. At the end of the game, the shot tally read: Portland—90, San Antonio 87. At that rate, the Spurs’ extra accuracy is always going to tell. It was an opportunity squandered as the game wound on, one that the Blazers will desperately wish they had back as this series continues.
The Cruelest Thing
The cruelest thing about this game from a Portland perspective is that the Blazers made you feel like they had a chance. They were up 15 in the third quarter before San Antonio made a huge run. Realistically, the Blazers did what they did all season: play inconsistently, sometimes looking brilliant and sometimes looking like they had been just introduced to the game.
For everybody who says that how you play during the season doesn’t matter, that it’s all about what’s happened recently or in the best stretches of the season, this game was a great reminder. Under pressure, pushed to your limit, not allowed to think or play freely, you will revert to the way you’re used to performing. For the Blazers that’s random, getting forced into iso sets, shooting and missing lots of threes.
Portland let themselves get distracted by the referees. (Yeah, at times they were bad.) They let themselves get forced into passive offense, too far out on the floor. But most of all, they just didn’t know how to pull it together when it started falling part because they only have two states of being: brilliant or awful. Once taken out of their game, they have a hard time getting back in it because the gap between those two precipices is too wide.
That was Portland’s epitaph tonight, probably for the season as well. You can look at the Blazers from a certain viewpoint and say, “Wow! This is great!” Ultimately that’s not going to prevail. The angle from which you’re analyzing makes a huge difference. When called to account for the full picture, there are too many holes, too much inattention to detail, and just not enough consistency.
As the great Montgomery Scott once said, “Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me.” This team has fooled onlookers approximately 47 times this season alone. This was the cruelest one because every single game—and every single possession within the game—matters But hey, that’s the way the playoffs go. Welcome to them, Portland.
Up Next
Game 4 between the Blazers and Spurs will commence on Sunday at 12:30 PM, Pacific.
