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The San Antonio Spurs had a tough time in Portland, dealing with physicality and athleticism, but they dug deep for their most impressive win of the season without the mighty Victor Wembanyama. They mucked up the Trail Blazers offensive sets and held them to 111.5 points per 100 possessions, which is good enough for the 37th percentile, per Cleaning the Glass.
They helped loads off the 3-point line to clog the inside, but Portland’s pressure was as unforgiving, forcing six early turnovers and making it equally as difficult to score in the paint with all the incoming help. Yet, the Spurs who stepped up the most were Dylan Harper and Stephon Castle. They gave the team direction when it was badly needed and took them to the finish line.
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Observations
The Spurs faced their largest deficit of the night in the third quarter (15), and took a one-point lead going into the fourth thanks to their defense getting nasty and some big-time scoring from Harper, which carried over into crunch time. One questioned if it was a peak into the future, watching Castle and Harper bail out the team, but after pondering before the deadline of this write-up, the future is now. They are both great shot creators and will be the best backcourt in the NBA before long when they start sharing the court more often at the start of games and polish their 3-point shots.
Without Wembanyama (concussion), this is an even series. The Spurs’ front line was vulnerable because it had to go small when Luke Kornet sat, yet they were able to stop the Blazers from going wild on the glass. Still, the Blazers had no fear of attacking the lane for a bucket or kick-out pass, and they did damage in transition for most of the game. This also unlocked 29 free throw attempts for the Blazers, but them being so ineffective at the line was a big help to the Spurs.
Portland’s attack wasn’t anything special. The transition success stemmed from the defense forcing misses, plus turnovers and the Spurs’ inability to generate free throw attempts for 2.5 quarters, which cut the flow of the game.
Last season, Andrew Nembhard was the player whose stock went…
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Publish date : 2026-04-25 05:31:00
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