The first meeting between the San Antonio Spurs and the Portland Trail Blazers was pegged as a rematch of last season’s Western Conference Semifinals and a test to see how much Portland had improved in that time span. Well, it might have still been a test, but it was against a different roster.
Well, as the Spurs tend to do, head coach Gregg Popovich, decided to rest Tim Duncan, Tony Parker, and Manu Ginobili as well as Tiago Splitter (out with injury). With any other team, this would be almost a free win or quite possibly a trap game. However, when it comes to the Spurs, the other team still needs to game plan seriously. Popovich uses the regular season strategically and because he rests his stars quite frequently, the bench players get a lot more playing time. It was still a challenge.
However, The Blazers were able to outplay the Spurs and come out on top as they beat the Spurs 108-95 on Monday night. The Blazers improve to 19-6 on the season and 11-2 at home, while the Spurs fall to 17-8 on the season and 9-6 on the road.
The Spurs are a machine. Anybody saw that last postseason when they were essentially a wood chipper and teams just got crushed by them. Dallas, in the first round, gave the Spurs the most grief and took them to seven games. However, the Spurs flipped the switch against Portland, beating them 4-1 in the series, then they beat the Oklahoma City Thunder 4-2 in the series and they demolished Miami 4-1 in the finals. The offensive sets and skill that the Spurs had was unmatched last season. Any offensive possession consisted of six to seven passes before a shot was even attempted. Their offense was so in tune with each other that it felt like they could do no wrong. There are multiple highlights ever night of the most unselfish basketball a person will ever watch. Furthermore, the adjustments this team makes are brutal. As the game progresses, fans can see San Antonio slowly get better and eventually negate the opposition. It is a ticking clock.
The Spurs may have gotten off to a somewhat “rocky” start. They lost three of their first five games of the season, but then flipped that San Antonio switch. After those initial five games, they won 11 of their next 12 and against quality opponents like the Clippers, Golden State and Cleveland. This team is still scary good and even though Golden State is absolutely rolling through the NBA right now, I will still take the Spurs in a seven-game series.
Like I said, the Spurs rested their big three because this was the second of a back-to-back. This has been something San Antonio has done for the past few years and has been one of the many reasons why Duncan and Ginobili are still good and effective at ages 38 and 37 respectively.
While Portland could have easily penciled in a victory for this game, I am glad they did not play like that. The starting lineup for the Spurs consisted of Danny Green, Kawhi Leonard, Boris Diaw, Aron Baynes and Cory Joseph. Does that look intimidating on paper? Not really. However, the players are so locked into the system they run that Pop can essentially plug and play and get the same results. If you watch on the sideline, Pop will be sitting a lot of the time because no coaching is required. The players have bought into what they are doing and know it religiously.
Portland outscored the Spurs in every quarter of this game. However, the Spurs played their heart out and kept it close and interesting for the majority of the game. One statistic that impressed me was the shooting percentages. Keep in mind that the Spurs are playing with two of their five regular starters. In the first quarter, the Spurs shot 42% from the field and Portland shot 39% from the field. In the second quarter, the Blazers shot 42% from the field, but the Spurs kept pace at 41%. In the third quarter both teams shot 50% from the field and in the fourth quarter the Spurs shot 67% from the field and Portland shot 52%. The Spurs only took 15 shots in the fourth quarter, but rarely missed. This speaks to the philosophy of the Spurs, which is do not settle for a good shot, get a great one. One play comes to mind. With the shot clock winding down for the Spurs, the ball landed in the hands of Leonard with about 2.5 seconds remaining on the left side. Now, most teams and players would just take the shot right there, but instead, Leonard had the presence of mind to realize he had enough time to take a couple of extra steps in and shoot a floater. He did just that and guess what, he made it. Little things like that make this team so far and away better than most in this league. They do not fall into the habits or patterns that most teams fall into.
Watching an offensive possession of the Spurs is interesting because he confuses teams. Not only with their excellent passing, but because their players stay committed to the play an extra second or two longer. For normal teams, after two or three passes, someone is shooting the basketball. Not the Spurs, after four or five passes, this team is still looking for a better shot. Rarely do you see a person on the Spurs take a mid-range or a shot that looks questionable. If they do, they get the Pop stare and get benched for the rest of the game.
Now, look you can say I am giving the Spurs too much credit, but really any team needs to watch them play and understand that they play the game the right way.
Ultimately, as skilled the Spurs were, Portland had more talent across the board and outplayed them. What impressed me the most was the defensive presence and rebounding effort from this team. Damian Lillard had 10 rebounds and LaMarcus Aldridge had 14. Portland finished with 46 rebounds with 11 offensive. Interesting stat, Nicolas Batum had zero rebounds. In what game does Lillard get 10 and Batum get zero?
The Spurs had 42 with nine offensive rebounds. The Portland guards were active at cleaning up the glass and the defense, especially when Steve Blake was in the game, was quick, sharp and aggressive. It gave the Spurs some issues on a couple of possessions and forced them to move the ball possibly quicker than they wanted to. The Spurs turned the ball over 15 times, which is unusual even for their bench players. Furthermore, Portland was able to score 14 points off of San Antonio’s blunders.
What I especially liked were the FT numbers. Portland and San Antonio matched the number of attempts at the line and Portland capitalized going 19-for-22. Lillard, especially was more aggressive at the rim. He went 6-for-6 from the line and drew contact on multiple drives.
Points in the paint was manageable. The Spurs scored 54 points, thanks partially to rookie Kyle Anderson, who is a 36% shooter from field, having a career night with 15 points on 6-for-7 shooting. The Blazers kept pace with 42 points.
It is scary how similar these teams are becoming. Portland is nowhere near the level of the Spurs, but both teams have similar stances on how the game should be played and what should be emphasized. Portland had 18 assists to the Spurs’ 19. Both teams shot close percentages. Portland shot 46% from the field, while the Spurs shot 49%. Portland shot 39% from the beyond the arc, the Spurs shot 36%. It does not get much closer than that.
Portland’s highest scorers were the all-stars, Aldridge and Lillard. Lillard finished with 23 points on 8-for-18 shooting, 1-for-3 from three with 10 rebounds, six assists and two steals. Lillard is flirting with a triple-double on many nights. It is only a matter of time. Like I said, I was impressed with his rebounding effort. He was in the right positions and jumped into a crowd to corral a couple. This was all in 34 minutes, too.
Aldridge finished with 23 points also on 10-for-21 shooting with 14 rebounds, one assist and one steal. Aldridge had five offensive rebounds on the night and had a decent shooting night. Diaw, surprisingly, guards Aldridge well, especially when LA settles for the fadeaway jumper. What I noticed was that if LA decides to try and go up-and-under on Diaw, he has success. He scored on Diaw about three or four times consistently getting closer to the basket and using that move.
The bench performed exceptionally well. The bench combined for 38 points. Chris Kaman finished with 11 points on 4-for-6 shooting with three rebounds.
Allen Crabbe is rock solid. He finished with eight points (he cannot get over that ten point mark) on 3-for-4 shooting, 1-for-2 from three with one rebound, one steal and two blocks. His blocks are similar to volleyball spikes. Impressive.
Joel Freeland finished with six points on 3-for-6 shooting with four rebounds. His mid-range shot is getting more and more dependable and he only played 15 minutes.
Blake finished with two points on just 1-for-4 shooting, 0-for-2 from three, but had two rebounds and three assists. The biggest stat for him was the +10 on the night.
Even Thomas Robinson got in on the action; he finished with seven points on 2-for-2 shooting with three rebounds in just nine minutes.
Why do I mention all of these players? Well, Portland got the victory, but not without some bad news. Robin Lopez, the durable center who has not missed a game in his last two seasons fractured his right hand while attempting to grab a rebound. He asked out of the game and he will be out for about six to seven weeks. He will be re-evaluted then. So, someone will need to step up. Lopez has been critical to the offense and, obviously the defense. I suggest that Freeland get the start since he is used to playing with Aldridge from last season. I am nervous about playing Kaman extended minutes so bringing him off the bench still seems to be the better move. However, I am not the coach and I do not make the choices (thankfully). Opportunities have presented themselves. Who steps up?
Guess we will find out when the Blazers talk on the Milwaukee Bucks for the first time this season at the Moda Center on Wednesday at 7:00 p.m. PST. The Bucks are over .500 at the time of this posting and are actually playing an entertaining brand of basketball. The Greek Freak, Giannis Antetokounmpo, is becoming a better player and looks like he should have been the number one pick in his draft. Jabari Parker, the second pick of this year’s draft, was playing solid basketball, but he recently sustained an injury that is speculated to be a torn ACL, which would sideline him for the season. Devestating news for Parker and the Bucks organization. Still, this team is not the Bucks of the past couple of seasons. Stay tuned!