3 Takeaways From Blazers Tough Shooting Night vs Spurs

Matt Levine | Nov 8, 2024

Daniel Dunn-Imagn Images

The Portland Trail Blazers dropped another game on Thursday night, losing to the San Antonio Spurs by a score of 118-105. San Antonio led throughout and the Trail Blazers never really seemed to be in control of their own gameplan.

With the loss, Portland drops to 3-6 on the new season. It's been a strange year so far as the Trail Blazers haven't played very well but they have shown more competitiveness in most of their games.

Trail Blazers head coach Chauncey Billups summed this game against the Spurs up by saying that he felt his team was "chasing our tails" for the entire game.

“I just felt like we were kind of chasing our tails the whole game,” Blazers coach Chauncey Billups told reporters at the Frost Bank Center. “I really did. We never really got ourselves in a rhythm.”

1. Once again, 3-point shooting was a problem for the Trail Blazers

Portland shot nine-of-32 from beyond the 3-point line for a 28 percent clip. Against most teams that won't cut it and it didn't help them here.

In contrast, San Antonio shot 16-of-29 from 3-point range. It ended up being the biggest difference in the game and Portland came out on the losing side of it all.

2. Return of Shaedon Sharpe not enough

Sharpe returned to the court for this contest but his presence wasn't enough to help them earn a win. It was his season debut after recovery from shoulder surgery.

He shot six-of-nine from the field, scoring 13 points with two rebounds and one assist. Billups spoke about his return after the fact.

“I thought Shaedon played really well,” Billups said. “He looked comfortable.”

3. Defense held Spurs star down

Whenever the Spurs are on the floor, the game plan shifts to making sure Victor Wembanyama doesn't kill you. It's a tough ask for any team but the Trail Blazers actually did a good job.

They held the second-year sensation to 12 points, eight rebounds, four steals, and three blocks. It was good enough to not allow him to take over the game so the Portland defense gets some credit here.

“I thought we did a good job on him,” Billups said of Wembanyama. “I really did. We switched up who was guarding him. We did a few things...He’s the kind of player that even if you do a good job on him, he’ll try to make the proper pass. He’s not gonna over shoot because you did a good job on him