Portland arrived in San Antonio on Wednesday night with the Western Conference's eighth seed still in play and very little margin for error. The Trail Blazers faced the Spurs at 6:30 p.m. Pacific, needing results now with three games left in the regular season.
Portland entered at 40-39 after losing Monday in its previous game, and it had already beaten San Antonio 115-110 in the teams' earlier meeting this season. The Blazers were trying to overtake the Los Angeles Clippers for the final playoff spot in the West, while the Spurs came in at 60-19 and had won plenty this season even without Victor Wembanyama, who was out again with a rib injury.
The injury list mattered on both sides. Jerami Grant and Damian Lillard were out for Portland, while Shaedon Sharpe and Vit Krejci were upgraded to doubtful. San Antonio also was without Stephon Castle, David Jones Garcia, Emanuel Miller and Wembanyama. Portland was scheduled to wear black Icon Edition jerseys, and the Spurs were set for gray Statement Edition uniforms.
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The matchup tilted toward the teams' top-end numbers. Portland's offense ranked 21st at 113.1, but its defense sat 13th at 113.7. San Antonio owned one of the league's best profiles at 118.6 on offense, fourth in the NBA, and 110.2 on defense, third. The Blazers' lead scorer was Deni Avdija at 24 points per game, while Donovan Clingan led the team with 11.6 rebounds and 1.7 blocks. Avdija also led Portland with 6.7 assists per game, and Matisse Thybulle paced the team with 2 steals per game.
Sharpe's status drew attention because his scoring could give Portland a lift, according to Joe Freeman of The Oregonian. In 48 games, Sharpe averaged a career-high 21.4 points, along with 4.4 rebounds, 2.6 assists and 1.4 steals, and he started 42 times. On the San Antonio side, Victor Wembanyama led the Spurs in points, rebounds and blocks at 24.8, 11.5 and 3.1 per game, while Castle led in assists at 7.4 and De'Aaron Fox led in steals at 1.2.
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Jacob Douglas of Pounding the Rock expected Dylan Harper to start in Castle's place, and Harper's own line — 17 points, 4.5 rebounds and 4.5 assists — offered another reason the game carried weight even without some of the biggest names on the floor. With Portland chasing the Clippers and San Antonio still shaping its rotation without Wembanyama, the game looked less like a throwaway in April than a possible preview of a future playoff series, depending on how the standings fall.
Fans in Oregon and Washington could stream the game on BlazerVision, while viewers everywhere else could watch on League Pass. The game also was available on the Trail Blazers Audio Network.
