SAN ANTONIO —
Game Story
First Quarter
San Antonio got off to a slow start as the Blazers notched a 9-2 lead. Drew Eubanks hit his first three as a Blazer, played some solid defense, and got a putback dunk as well.
Devin Vassell hit a three, and Keldon Johnson drove for a tough basket. Johnson drove and dished to Poeltl for his second dunk of the game to tie it at 9. Vassell made a second three, then Keldon hit from deep.
The bench guys came in, and Tre Jones drove in for a floater before Josh Richardson swished a deep three. Vassell got fouled on a transition dunk attempt, hit the free throws, drained a three, got a steal, and hit more free throws in the span of 41 seconds. that made it a 25-4 run by the Spurs.
Josh Richardson hit a three and then stole the ball and scored in transition. The next possession, he drew an offensive foul. Dejounte Murray hit a mid-range jumper to put the Spurs in front 34-15.
Portland got a couple of buckets, but Dejounte Murray nailed a three, and then a deeper three, and then a stepback three in three consecutive possessions for a 45-27 lead.
Second Quarter
Dejounte found Jakob Poeltl for a dunk and scored a pair of his own buckets as the Spurs built their lead out to 21 points. The onslaught continued, as Primo dunked, Keldon made a three and then scored inside, and then hit another three after Devin Vassell did the same.
San Antonio hit 13 threes in the first half, the franchise record for made threes in a half.
Dejounte hit an and-1 late, and the Spurs led 81-53 at the break.
Third Quarter
The Spurs kept their feet on the gas. Dejounte hit a shot, Primo nailed a three, and Keldon Johnson got three free throws.
Jakob Poeltl got two blocks in a row to get to a career-high five for the game. He tipped in an offensive board, then scored from the dunker spot to put the Spurs up 36.
San Antonio went cold and gave up a 9-0 run, their lead slashed to just 27. Poeltl scored off another offensive rebound, then Keldon got to the stripe, then Poeltl got another board and bucket, and another. He finished with a career-best 6 blocks.
Keldon hit a three, then DJ got to the line, then Keldon hit another three from the corner. Dejounte drove and scored, then Zach Collins scored in the paint before blocking a shot at the rim.
DJ hit a mid-range jumper, and the Spurs led 114-81 after three quarters.
Fourth Quarter
Nobody hit a bucket for the first few minutes until Joe Wieskamp hit a three from the corner, then Josh Primo from the same spot for San Antonio's 17th and 18th.
Wieskamp hit another triple off a feed from Tre Jones, as San Antonio approached their franchise record for makes in a game at 20. It looked like Keita Bates-Diop hit it, but his foot was on the line. Still, 19 was a season best for the Spurs, who won 133-96.
Pregame
The San Antonio Spurs (28-44) will visit the Portland Trail Blazers (27-44) tonight as the Spurs continue their 4-game road trip and have a reunion with ex-Spur, Drew Eubanks.
The Spurs are 1-0 against the Blazers this season.
In their previous game, the Spurs defeated the Warriors, 110-108.
Josh Richardson led the team in scoring with 25 points. Dejounte Murray had 19 points while Johnson added 14 points in the win.
"We played really well. I'm very happy for them tonight," said Gregg Popovich. "To get a win here, we're thrilled. We played well enough to win. We still got a lot of things we need to learn."
Here are five things to watch for in tonight's game:
1. The Trail Blazers average 37 three-point attempts per game, ninth-most in the NBA.
2. The Spurs hold opponents to 33.0 attempts per game, sixth-fewest in the league.
3. The Spurs rank fifth in the NBA with a 64.4 assist percentage while the Trail Blazers assist percentage sits at 58.7%.
4. Portland's Ben McLemore is averaging 13.6 points, 2.8 boards and 2.0 assists in his last five games against San Antonio.
5. In his last five games against Portland, Spurs' Dejounte Murray is averaging 11.2 points, 8.8 assists, and 7.0 rebounds.
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