Grant, Simons keep Blazers close in narrow loss to Spurs

Portland Trail Blazers and San Antonio Spurs played a close game Friday night at the Moda Center. Each team was shorthanded, Portland missing most of their centers and the Spurs a few of their guards. It led to a chaotic, streaky contest that came down to the last minute. When the dust settled, the Spurs won by a slim 118-116 margin. The loss was Portland’s 17th of the season in 25 attempts.

Here are some of the points that decided the game.

Easy appearance

It’s tempting to be happy and say every shot Victor Wembanyama takes is an easy one, but the Blazers were far more charitable to San Antonio across the board tonight. Portland allowed the Spurs to shoot a season-high 72% in the first quarter and continued to be remiss in the paint throughout the first half. Predictably, unable to stop the opposition from passing or scoring inside, Portland wrapped it up, allowing San Antonio to hit from the arc. Giving up points inside OR outside can be understandable. Concede both parts to the opponent? Oh.

Portland righted the ship in the second half, in part because of an offensive surge we’re about to describe. The Blazers scoring often forced San Antonio to take the ball out of the net and slowed their offense enough for the defense to catch up.

The Spurs finished with 44 in the paint, a less than tragic number. It certainly didn’t look like it was going to happen. A 16-6 advantage in second-chance points proved telling.

San Antonio shot 51.8% from the field and 46.7% from distance, so you can see the problem never really went away.

Wembanyama

Victor Wembanyama is so damn good it’s disgusting. Absent centers Deandre Ayton and Robert Williams III, with Donovan Clingan on a heavy minutes restriction, the Blazers started Jerami Grant at Wemby. The future hall-of-famer took JG inside and scored off the post. Then Clingan stepped in, prompting Wembanyama to drift out to the perimeter, where he calmly sank threes and passed to teammates in the lane. For one possession in the first half, Portland put small forward Toumani Camara on Wemby. The center then drove past Camara for a layup. What the hell??? It’s just unfair.

After proving a near-tidal force all night, on the final Spurs possession of the game, Wembanyama took the ball in the paint, drew a foul from Grant and sealed the victory with a pair of free throws.

Wembanyama finished with 28 points, 7 rebounds and 7 assists in 34 minutes.

Paul goes out

Theoretically, the Blazers got a big advantage early in the game when the Spurs, already missing Stephon Castle, lost Chris Paul with 1:03 left in the first quarter after two technical fouls and an ejection. It didn’t seem to hurt San Antonio’s offense much immediately, because guess who took over playmaking duties? (sigh) But it definitely hampered Spurs in the second half. They had trouble setting up their offense beyond basic plays: Wemby isos and simple picks. They weren’t bad per se, but they certainly weren’t coordinated. Possessions took longer and produced worse shots, which helped Portland’s cause.

Only when the game became chaotic in the final minutes of the fourth did the imbalance even out. The young Blazers and the captainless Spurs both had to play opportunistic, catch-as-catch-can ball. At that point, the game was a toss-up.

Taken for granted

The Blazers made a big run at the start of the third period behind an unholy barrage of three-pointers from Jerami Grant. Grant held his team steady through adversity in general, but that run in the third quarter was special. As soon as he started hitting, everyone got free and started connecting as well. As a result, Portland turned a potential blowout into a win.

The barrage turned a common thread this season, with Portland being blown out in the third. Scoring 46 in their weak spell certainly helped.

Grant accumulated 32 points by hitting 8 of 10 triples tonight. It’s like watching a guy pull up in a Lamborghini covered in gems. Nice.

More threes

Speaking of everyone hooking up, as soon as the lid came off the three-point bucket for Portland, there might as well have been a pneumatic tube between the Portland shooters’ hands and the net. Anfernee Simons caught fire from distance in the second half en route to 30 points of her own. Anyone who has watched them this season knows that those three are the key that unlocks the door to potential Portland wins. It almost proved that again tonight.

Unfortunately, as hot as they got in the third, the Blazers went just as cold in the fourth. That made it much harder to maintain momentum.

The Blazers finished an impressive 16-41, 39.0%, from beyond the arc.

Deni is driving

All season, Deni Avdija has had problems making and/or completing drives to the bucket. Half court, fast break, it hasn’t mattered. He has either fumbled the ball or missed the shot on an alarming number of his dribble penetration attempts.

Tonight we saw Deni unleashed. When Simons and Grant spread the floor, the middle was open. Avdija attacked hard and fast, even dunked on a semi-break and posed for the crowd during a second-half play. He had 19 off the bench, a big factor in Portland’s success.

Clingan returns

Donovan Clingan returned tonight after missing a few weeks with a knee injury. He did his usual good job defending against everyone but You-Know-Who. His final stat line read 6 points, 7 rebounds, 2 assists, 3 turnovers and 4 fouls in 15 minutes. It was a mixed effort overall, but it’s still good to have him back.

Challenges

Whatever you say about Blazers Head Coach Chauncey Billups this season, it’s hard to defend his use of challenges. He just seems snakebite, not only in wins and losses during challenged calls, but the aftermath.

Tonight, Billups challenged a Grant press of Wembanyama’s wrist on a contested possession in the fourth quarter. He lost the challenge as the play was inherently cloudy. It cost the Blazers a timeout they badly needed as Wemby hit the aforementioned game-winning free throws with 2.4 seconds left in regulation. Instead of calling time and entering the half court, Portland had to take the ball out from under the opposite baseline with the game on the line. This led to an Avdija lift from three quarters of the court to decide the game. It was very exciting, but not exactly what you want to hang the victory on.

Next

Box score

Blazers will meet Phoenix Suns Sunday at 5 p.m., Pacific.