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The Blazers were led by Damian Lillard (23 points), Nicolas Batum (13 points, 14 rebounds) and LaMarcus Aldridge (14 points), but the team "led" is relative, as the team looked rudderless all night, even before Aldridge's injury.
Ben has ongoing coverage of the Aldridge injury in this article.
First Half: There's no point in recapping this half. The Blazers. Were. Terrible. They forced poor passes and ugly outside shots. When they got open, they missed. At the other end, they gave up easy layups, and loads of offensive rebounds. On top of that, the already red-hot Spurs were hitting their jumpers, starting out 6-8 from three. Meanwhile, Matthews missed two free throws, part of a Blazer 10-17 FT performance in the half. After giving up their second straight buzzer-beating three-pointer, Portland was down at the half, and deserved to be.
San Antonio 56, Portland 40
Second Half: Aldridge took a terrible fall onto his back and left the game in the first minute of the second half. Portland quickly cut the lead to 8 before San Antonio effortlessly pushed the lead back to 13.But their shots stopped falling, and Lillard nailed a three-pointer to cut the deficit to six. San Antonio held serve afterward, holding a 9 point lead after three. But the Spurs hit 3 three-pointers in 90 seconds to open the fourth, pushing the lead to 18 effectively putting the game away.
What's Next:
One more game left to get a win on this road trip, in New Orleans against the Pelicans Friday evening. But stay tuned for Dave's analysis tonight.
Gameday Thread Comments of the Night: