NBA : The San Antonio Spurs beat Portland without Victor Wembanyama (120-108)

Missing the anchor man and spotting the early hole

Victor Wembanyama is still sidelined. The big man watched from the stands as San Antonio tried to get the job done without him. Portland came out on the front foot and made its pressure tell early. The home side led 29-27 after the first quarter. Jrue Holiday was the main scorer, finishing with 29 points in the game.

Deni Avdija did plenty to squeeze value out of every possession. He kept drawing fouls on De’Aaron Fox, which quickly cut into the Texas guard’s minutes. Portland stayed in control at half-time, taking a 65-59 lead into the break.

The tactical tweak and the numbers swing

The third quarter brought the biggest gap of the night. Portland pushed its lead to 15 points. Then the game turned on a flashpoint, with Scoot Henderson picked up a technical after some physical contact with Dylan Harper.

Mitch Johnson and his staff reacted fast. The Spurs went smaller, went into an aggressive zone and shut down Portland’s driving lanes. San Antonio’s offence started to click. Dylan Harper and Stephon Castle took over the scoring load, and a three from Carter Bryant wiped out the deficit before the final period.

The fourth-quarter finish and the injury note

San Antonio then ripped off a 12-0 run. On that stretch alone, the Spurs outscored Portland 53-26. Dylan Harper finished strong on a baseline drive and ended with 27 points. Combined with Stephon Castle, he helped push the pair past 60 points between them. Portland’s shooting went cold at the worst possible time. It ended 120-108, and the Spurs took back the mathematical edge in the battle for home-court advantage.

Deni Avdija’s line told a strange story. His 19 points all came at the free-throw line, where he hit 15 of 16. From the field, it was a mess: just 3 makes from 15 attempts. There was also a grim injury note, with the wing reportedly losing a tooth after taking a blow from De’Aaron Fox’s elbow, an incident that drew an offensive foul from the officials.

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