The Spurs didn’t just beat Portland on Saturday night - they ran the Blazers out of the building, 125-103, and stretched their winning streak to eight with a wire-to-wire rout in Portland.
Victor Wembanyama was the engine behind it all. He finished with 29 points on 9-13 shooting, including 3-6 from 3 and 8-9 at the line.
In 24 minutes, the Spurs outscored Portland by 23 with him on the floor, and he posted 2.23 points per field goal attempt. It was the kind of night that showed off exactly what San Antonio wants from him right now: pressure at the rim, selective damage from deep, and a shot diet that keeps everything efficient.
Over his last three games, Wembanyama has been absurdly clean with his choices. He’s 23-29 at the rim, 8-20 on 3-pointers above the break, and 4-10 on shots in between.
He’s also drawn 41 free throw attempts in that span. Portland’s broadcast didn’t like the whistle, but most of that pressure came from Wembanyama forcing the issue at the basket and putting defenders in the position where they had to foul or give up two points.
That balance matters. Wembanyama has to keep punishing teams physically without beating up his own body, and the Spurs are helping him do that by using his gravity as a finisher while also giving him spots to step out and breathe with a jumper. The result is efficiency that keeps feeding itself.
San Antonio also got useful work from Luke Kornet and Carter Bryant, two players who have had their share of early-season struggles. Against Portland, neither was perfect, but both handled their jobs well enough to matter.
Kornet made his presence felt with rim protection and rebounding, and he was steady enough offensively as a screener and finisher. The Spurs have been losing the minutes without Wembanyama, but they won Kornet’s stretch by nine in this game.
Bryant brought energy right away. He looked like a springy young wing with a clear defensive assignment: compete, bother people, and make life difficult.
He hit a few open 3s, took on the toughest matchups with force, and if he couldn’t stop his man cleanly, he fouled him. Afterward, Mitch Johnson praised his physicality and aggression.
The Spurs never gave Portland a foothold. No rally, no wobble, no stretch where the game felt like it might turn.
San Antonio led by as many as 35 and held a double-digit edge from 3:39 left in the second quarter all the way to the final horn. They shot 39% from 3 as a team and kept the pressure on from start to finish.
That kind of clean blowout stands out because even the best wins usually come with a little slippage. Not this one.
The Spurs dominated on both ends, the bench stayed connected, and the game never drifted toward danger. If there’s been any complaint about the first seven wins in this streak, it’s that the opponents weren’t especially strong and some of them hung around longer than they should have.
That wasn’t the case here.
The rivalry angle was there too, even if it’s still taking shape. Last year, Spurs players talked about how real rivalries are built in the postseason, with the Thunder and Knicks cited as examples after last season’s playoff run. Portland fits into that broader conversation now, especially with the Timberwolves and Trail Blazers adding some fresh history of their own.
The Blazers are off to a strong start, and had they won Saturday night, they would have tied the Spurs in the standings. Damian Lillard is back in the fold, which makes them better than they were last year. These teams also already have some recent edge to draw from after five games of playoff-level physicality and trash talk just a few months ago.
When Wembanyama was asked about Deni Avdija’s game at All-Star Weekend, his first thought was that he shoots a lot of free throws, and the Spurs clearly enjoy it when Portland’s star wants a call and doesn’t get one. Steph Castle added his own spice too, jawing as he usually does and throwing down on his college teammate Donovan Clingan.
It all added up to a matchup that felt sharper than last year’s version, and San Antonio had every reason to enjoy it.
In Other News...
Spurs Exposed Two Blazers Problems Fans Cant Ignore
Portlands 125-103 loss to San Antonio at home was the kind of game that left little room for optimism, especially after the Blazers were outplayed in the second and third quarters. The Spurs controlled the middle stretches and made Portland chase the game, while second-year center Yang Hansen gave the home side one of its few bright spots with the first double-double of his career, finishing with 12 points and 10 rebounds.
The bigger concern was how little resistance Portland offered on the offensive end. Scoot Henderson continued to struggle, and the Blazers never found much rhythm from deep, hitting just 9 of 35 from three-point range while San Antonio connected on 17 of 44. For a team trying to stabilize its early-season identity, the combination of shaky perimeter shooting and uneven guard play was hard to miss. [Read more 🡒]
Wembanyama Showed Exactly How Dangerous These Spurs Can Be
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 🡒]
Spurs Fans May See The Giannis Miss Very Differently Now
Doc Rivers has never been shy about saying what he thinks, and his latest podcast appearance offered more of the same when he took aim at Giannis Antetokounmpos playing style and basketball IQ. For Spurs fans, though, the bigger takeaway may be less about Rivers familiar bluntness and more about how the conversation around Giannis has shifted. Once upon a time, the idea of pairing him with Victor Wembanyama would have sounded like a dream scenario in San Antonio, the kind of talent mashup that could change a franchises ceiling overnight.
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 🡒]