The Portland Trail Blazers had little room to breathe Tuesday night, and the San Antonio Spurs made sure of it.
Portland dropped a 125-103 decision at the Moda Center, getting buried in the second and third quarters as San Antonio outscored the Blazers 87-56 over that stretch. By the time the fourth quarter arrived, the game was already out of reach. Both teams were playing on the second night of a back-to-back, and Portland’s thin rotation - made even thinner by injuries over the past week - couldn’t keep pace with what the Spurs brought.
There was at least one bright spot for the Blazers: second-year center Yang Hansen got extended run and made the most of it. In 26 minutes, he posted his first career double-double with 12 points and 10 rebounds, giving Portland a useful look at a player who may be earning a longer stay as the backup center. Robert Williams III sat out because of the second night of the back-to-back, so Yang’s performance stood out even more.
Scoot Henderson, meanwhile, is still searching for traction. He finished with 13 points on 4-of-10 shooting and went 0-of-5 from three, while also posting a minus-23, second-worst on the team behind Toumani Camara.
The Blazers haven’t lost faith in him, though. Micah Nori said via The Athletic insider Jason Quick:
“I believe in Scoot, we believe in Scoot," Micah Nori said via The Athletic insider Jason Quick.
“Had a good conversation before I came down here (to his media session). Over the course of 82 games, everybody is going to struggle … they just are.
Right now, his struggle is coming early on. So my job as a coach is to help him, to put him in position to shorten those struggles, because we do know he is very, very capable."
Portland’s biggest problem on the night came from deep. The Blazers hit just 9 of 35 from beyond the arc, while San Antonio knocked down 17 of 44 and finished with 24 more points on the perimeter. That gap told the story as much as anything else.
The Blazers are shooting 35.6 percent from three as a team, well below what they’re capable of. Given the circumstances, they’ll hope this one was more about the schedule than a larger issue, and that a bounce-back is waiting around the corner.
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The Spurs left Portland with a convincing 125-103 win at the Moda Center, and Victor Wembanyama was the biggest reason why. In just 24 minutes, he poured in 29 points and gave San Antonio the kind of two-way jolt that can change a game in a hurry, especially when he is operating with that level of efficiency.
For the Trail Blazers, there was at least a bright spot in Yang Hansen, who posted his first career double-double with 12 points and 10 rebounds while filling in for Robert Williams III. But Portland never found a way to slow Wembanyama or keep pace with San Antonios offense, which is the kind of reminder that makes this Spurs group so intriguing when their best player is rolling. [Read more 🡒]
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But the fit was never as simple as the name value suggested. Giannis has long been a force because of his size, speed and relentless pressure at the rim, yet his injury history and postseason track record have also fueled debate about how his game translates when the stakes climb. That is why Rivers critique lands in a more complicated place than a typical hot take, and why the Spurs old what-if may look different now. Not every great player is built to mesh cleanly with another great player, even one as singular as Wembanyama. [Read more 🡒]
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Phoenix coach Jordan Ott pointed to Goodwins progress and the teams improving defense after recent wins, a sign the Suns are trying to build some stability even as the injury report keeps shifting. For the Spurs, the concern is less about one name than the cumulative effect of a thin rotation against a team that has started to find its footing on the defensive end. With the winning streak on the line, San Antonio will need to navigate the same kind of late-breaking availability questions that have made this matchup feel a little less predictable. [Read more 🡒]