6 hours Ago By Aaron Fentress
Any thoughts that the Portland Trail Blazers had reached a different level with Thursday night’s win over the Denver Nuggets were erased 48 hours later. The Blazers started a two-game trip Saturday night with a 114-94 blowout loss at the San Antonio Spurs, who have now won all three meetings. The Blazers, who shot 46.
4% against the Nuggets, could not get their offense rolling against the Spurs and, like most teams, could not corral center Victor Wembanyama. The Blazers shot 39.4% from the field and made just 12 of 43 three-point shots (27.
9%). “We obviously had a tough time scoring in the game,” Blazers coach Chauncey Billups told reporters. Wembanyama scored 30 points with seven rebounds and tied a career-high with 10 blocked shots before leaving the game with about eight minutes remaining.
Anfernee Simons and Shaedon Sharpe , who combined for a season-high 55 points against the Nuggets , came up with 43 points against the Spurs. Sharpe led the Blazers with 25 points on 11-of-16 shooting. Simons added 18 while shooting just 7 of 22 from the floor and 3 of 11 from three-point range.
He committed four of the team’s 13 turnovers. The Blazers got off to a slow shooting start, hitting just 28.6% from the field in the first quarter.
Yet they trailed only 25-20 entering the second quarter. The Spurs led just 41-39 after Simons tossed an alley-oop pass to Deandre Ayton for a dunk with 4:10 remaining in the half. Around that time, Billups called a timeout, hoping to end the half on a high note.
Instead, the Blazers committed turnovers and gave up basket after basket. “And then boom, they had 15 points in that little span to open the game up a little bit,” Billups said. From that point on, however, the Spurs outscored the Blazers 19-5 to lead 60-44 at halftime.
The Spurs led by as much as 19 in the third quarter and 26 in the fourth. WHAT IT MEANS The Blazers (9-19) have lost 11 of 14 dating back to Nov. 20, while the Spurs (15-13) have won four of their last five games.
These two teams will meet for the final time on April 6 in Portland. This is the seventh game the Blazers have lost by 20 or more points this season. The Blazers haven’t won back-to-back games since defeating Minnesota on Nov.
13, followed by Atlanta on Nov. 17. BLOCKED SHOTS The Spurs' 13 blocked shots tied for the most allowed by the Blazers this season.
The Memphis Grizzlies blocked 13 shots during their wins over the Blazers on Nov. 10 and Nov. 25.
NEXT UP The Blazers play at 5:30 p.m. Monday at the Dallas Mavericks (18-10).
-- Aaron Fentress | [email protected] | @AaronJFentress (Twitter), @AaronJFentress (Instagram), @AaronFentress (Facebook).
