Portland lives to fight another day as they finally mustered a win against the seemingly unstoppable San Antonio Spurs. Riding a dominant third quarter, the Portland Trail Blazers beat the Spurs 103-92 to force a game five back in San Antonio. The Spurs lead the series 3-1 and the Blazers avoid the sweep.
Where has this Portland team been? The Blazers played with an energy, urgency and speed that have been absent since the Houston series. After the Spurs completely sucked the life out of Portland for the first three games, it is hard to remember what it was like when the Blazers were beating teams with their style of play. I have to say, if this was the last game in the Moda Center for Portland, this was a good way to end.
Obviously, Portland is playing for their playoff lives from here on out and they played like it. Something that we have rarely seen in this series, Portland got off to a good start and kept it. In the last three games, the Spurs would strike first. Either they would make the first couple of buckets or set the tone defensively by affecting some of the Blazers’ early attempts. Portland attacked first and jumped out to a 14-8 lead with 7:18 remaining. Thanks to three-pointers that bounced Portland’s way for once as well as Portland being aggressive and attacking constantly.
The insanely hot shooting of the Spurs was cooled off some as they did not seem to have the similar flow to their offense that they have had in this series. Tony Parker was no longer swishing every mid-range jumper he took, no longer was Tiago Splitter making plays that made him look like the second-coming of Hakeem and no longer was the basketball somehow finding its way into the basket whenever the Spurs attempted a three-pointer.
One thing that jumped out was the defensive intensity. Wesley Matthews was jumping around screens, Robin Lopez seemed to be in the right place at the right time for key defensive rebounds, Will Barton, of all people, was playing under control defense. All that combined and the game took on a different feel. In the back of everyone’s minds, however, was this yearning for Portland to have done this sooner. There is a huge difference when you are down 2-0 instead of 3-0. With 2-0, there is some margin for error.
The other difference was the Spurs never exploded offensively. In the last three games, there was a quarter where the Spurs would score 30+ points or sometimes 40+ and the game would be out of reach. Portland kept the Spurs from getting too comfortable in their schemes. There were not too many points where the Spurs made back-to-back buckets that felt momentum shifting. Portland always made the necessary stop or play that held back the tide, be it a wacky Will Barton move that somehow succeeded, or Portland just out-hustling the Spurs on the defensive end.
The biggest quarter for Portland was the third quarter. The Blazers outscored the Spurs 35-20 and really pushed the game out of reach for the Spurs (although the Spurs would make Blazer fans fidget in the closing two minutes of the fourth quarter). The Blazers shot 52% from the field in the third quarter and a scorching 67% from three. Nicolas Batum, after drilling and converting on a four-point play, took the definition of a heat check as he heaved a three-pointer with Manu setting up shop in his face. Somehow the ball found net. For once, the bounces and weird basketball luck was finally swinging the other way. Robin Lopez and LaMarcus Aldridge combined for 16 points on 8-for-14 shooting and were dominant in the paint. Damian Lillard also added going 2-for-3 from three point land. Keep in mind that Lillard had been struggling from three all series. In the past three games in this series, Lillard has gone 1-for-13 from beyond the arc. Lillard did still go 2-for-6, which is not ideal, but he still was able to sink some, which is important for Portland’s offense to have a chance.
In the fourth quarter, Spurs head coach Gregg Popovich eventually pulled the plug on this game and sent in his bench. Danny Green was not finished. He made the game interesting by hitting three straight shots including a three-pointer, but Portland only needed one more bucket to seal this game up for good. It is fitting that it would be a Will Barton alley-oop.
The biggest reason that Portland won was the fact that the bench finally showed up and gave them more than what viewers could have given them. Will Barton, who is actually having a fantastic series if you break down his numbers. He is averaging 7.3 points in 10.3 minutes while shooting 73% from the field. What? Will Barton finished the night with 17 points on 7-for-13 shooting, 1-for-2 from three, six rebounds and two assists. The Will Barton show was alive and some of the shots that he threw up were headache-inducing at times. However, the ball went in. Barton shot a three-pointer that ended up bouncing of the front of the rim, off the glass and into the net. Barton was getting all of those bounces as he drove into the lane with a number of moves that I do not even have names for.
His partner was Thomas Robinson. He played 24 minutes and finished with nine points on 4-for-7 shooting, five rebounds, one steal and one block. Has Portland found something in the energy twins? It definitely had stretches where it worked. It looked like they were playing improv jazz, while everyone was playing rock. Half the time it did not even look like T-Rob and Barton knew what they were going to do. Barton would throw a prayer that would somehow land in Robinson’s hands, which then he would drive in for a lay-up.
However, the Spurs helped Portland tremendously. After going 12-for-20 in game two, the Spurs could not buy a basket from three. They finished going 3-for-18 from beyond the arc and shot just 17%. That is disgusting. Not to mention that they had 10 turnovers and a lot of careless plays down the stretch that is very un-San Antonio.
Portland shot 44% from the field and out-rebounded the Spurs 53-46. Robin Lopez was on a message and seemed to be getting better positioning under the basket. Portland finally out-assisted the Spurs 17-13.
However, Portland scored 62 points in the paint to the Spurs’ 44. When was the last time Portland scored that much? That is just evidence that Portland was attacking constantly and speeding up the game. Instead of taking a while to set up and get a play down, Portland seemed to be playing with pure feel. It is funny to think that basketball players play better when they just let their instincts take off. I think fans saw that tonight.
Damian Lillard continues his postseason tear. He finished with 25 points on 11-for-21 shooting ,2-for-6 from three, five assists and four rebounds. Damian helped Portland surge to a sizeable lead and kept attacking and getting lay-ups. Instead of settling for a mid-range shot, Lillard continues to just take the contact and make things happen.
Like I said in my previous post, Nicolas Batum has been the best player for the Blazers in this series outside of game one. He finished with 14 points on 5-for-11 shooting, 2-for-4 from three, but had a playoff career-high 14 rebounds and had eight assists. Think he wants to beat his friend Tony Parker?
Robin Lopez finished with nine points on 4-for-12 shooting, but had 12 rebounds (six offensive). He was one of the main offensive catalysts in the third quarter if you can believe it. He grabbed rebounds, set good screens and was in the right place at the right time.
LaMarcus Aldridge had one of his better nights against the Spurs. He finished with 19 points on 8-for-16 shooting, but just had four rebounds. He got most of his points from the paint as his mid-range shot was not there.
Well Blazers fans, do not put away your stuff just yet. The Trail Blazers have yet another chance to keep this series alive as they take on the Spurs in San Antonio on Wednesday night at 6:30 p.m. PST. If the Blazers win game five, then it gets interesting. However, I fully expect the Spurs to shoot a better percentage from three and really make adjustments. But, anything can happen I suppose. We shall see. Stay tuned!