The Spurs deliver a concentrated win over the Trail Blazers before heading into the holidays

Eight days ago, the Spurs took on the home of the undermatched Portland Trail Blazers, and it was nearly a disaster. The Spurs were already four players behind due to injury and had lost Chris Paul early on due to a pitch. After a terrible third quarter, the Spurs found themselves in a rough patch before pulling off a miraculous 17-point comeback in the fourth quarter. Then, two nights ago, they won an emotional, intense OT game against the Hawks that was exciting but frustrating at times due to a lack of focus. They wouldn’t fall into the same traps tonight.

The Spurs continued their goal of getting off to stronger starts with their new and preferred starting lineup, and thanks in part to a couple of threes from Harrison Barnes and excellent perimeter defense from Victor Wembanyama, the Spurs were ahead 3:19 with 28 players remaining in the first quarter left when the banking units came. A nice change from previous games, the second unit was able to hold its own for the most part and the Spurs still led 25-20 at the start of the second quarter.

After a quiet first quarter from Portland’s big names, Anfernee Simons and Shaedon Sharpe hit a pair of three-pointers to bring the score back to 33. Both teams would then suffer an offensive lull, with the score at just 41-39 Spurs with 4:10 left, but from then on only the Spurs would be left. They closed the half on a 19-5 run, leading through some heads-up play from Stephon Castle on both sides and capping it off with a couple of Wemby threes after not exactly having his best attacking half to go with it to be able to keep up with his defense as he had shot just 2-9 up to that point.

Although the Spurs have been a good third quarter team this season, the hope is that they would avoid one of their infamous crappy quarters like last week in Portland before making their miraculous comeback. While it wasn’t a particularly impressive quarter for the Spurs, they were treading water for most of the game before Wemby returned and his shots – including the 200th three-pointer of his career – started another strong end to a quarter with Spurs on top were 85-68 going into the final frame.

At the beginning of the fourth round they finally showed their will and extended the lead beyond the 20-point threshold. All starters were finished, the Spurs led 101-78 with 6:45 left, and three minutes later the third team closed it out. After slow offense in the first half, Wemby was hot in the second half, finishing the game with 30 points on 8-16 from the field (4-8 from three). Their win, combined with the Timberwolves and Suns’ losses, puts the Spurs in a play-in position at 9th (albeit briefly). With teams 2-11 in the West each within four games of losing, it’s going to be the Wild West from here on out, so buckle up.

Game notes

• If someone still hates Sochan, I don’t know what else to say. He had another impressive game where he attacked the paint, rebounded and was an overall threat on the court. His statistics of 10 points, 7 rebounds, 5 assists and one steal and block are not outstanding, but they also do not fully capture everything he brings to the court. He also does a good job of dispelling the notion that he can’t share the space with Wemby. Since Wemby shoots threes, he doesn’t have to do that, and the two have found good chemistry on cuts, especially with Wemby facing Sochan on plays like this.

• Once again, Charles Bassey got the nod at backup center, and unlike the Atlanta game, he played well enough to hold that spot in the second half with a double-double of 16 efficient points and a team-high 12 rebounds . Perhaps more notable is Zach Collins, who didn’t play against the Hawks when Bassey struggled (Mitch Johnson went instead in the second half with Sochan as the backup center) and was the only DNP tonight, despite the Spurs having more than three minutes to play Empty the bench. Are they just taking time with his back after he had to miss a few games due to a bad fall, or is there something more going on behind the scenes (e.g. trade talks)? It will be an interesting situation to continue observing.
• With his first block of the game, Wemby passed David Robinson for a franchise record 62 consecutive games with a block, and it’s hard to imagine that streak ending any time soon. He currently leads the league with 3.5 blocks per game, and he likely increased that number by ten more blocks tonight, becoming just the sixth player in NBA history to have a 30-point, 10-block game has. (Unfortunately, there was no triple-double, as he “only” grabbed seven rebounds.) And along the way, he added an offensive milestone, becoming the 15th-fastest player to hit 200 three-pointers in his career. Note that he got there faster than Steph Curry, James Harden and Ray Allen. Overwhelming.

Game play

Speaking of Wemby threes, this is why he added them to his arsenal. Once players have to respect this, lanes like these open up:

Next up: Monday at the Philadelphia 76ers

The Spurs head east for their first extended road trip of the season, starting with the struggling 76ers. Will Wemby be ready to exact revenge on the stricken Joel Embiid after losing 70 to them last season? Tune in to find out!