The San Antonio Spurs shrugged off the absence of Victor Wembanyama. They ignored the hostile crowd in Portland. And they dug deep after facing an early 15-point deficit.
The result was a 120-108 victory over the Trail Blazers on Friday night, and a 2-1 lead in their Western Conference playoff series.
Stephon Castle and Dylan Harper led the way, scoring 33 and 27 points, respectively, with Harper coming off the bench to shoot a red-hot 9-of-12 from the field. The duo made up for the absence of Wembanyama, who did not clear concussion protocol after a nasty fall knocked him out early from a Game 2 loss.
The Blazers could not hold on after building a 65-59 halftime lead, an edge built by shooting a scorching 10-of-21 from 3-point range. They also squandered a fountain-of-youth moment from 35-year-old guard Jrue Holiday, who had 29 points, six rebounds and four steals.
Game 4 is on Sunday in Portland, and the Spurs now have a cushion as the potential return of Wembanyama looms.
Who needs playoff experience when you have these kids?
The Spurs needed someone to save them. De’Aaron Fox — the team’s other All-Star with Victor Wembanyama out — wasn’t finding his shot. Naturally, they turned to … their rookies?
Dylan Harper and Carter Bryant took over the game in the late third and early fourth quarter, flipping a 10-point deficit into an 11-point lead by the start of crunch time.
The Spurs offense was sputtering as Bryant was playing the 5 position, as Blazers centers Donovan Clingan and Robert Williams III were sitting in the paint whenever he had the ball. Fox, Harper and everyone else just couldn’t get anywhere. Bryant was passing up wide-open shots and it was killing the team.
Spurs coach Mitch Johnson could’ve yanked him for the veteran Harrison Barnes. Instead, he stuck with the rookie.
Then, Bryant showed a splash of confidence. He hit a stepback 3, just when it looked like he was going to put his tail between his legs, and suddenly the Spurs were off and running. He locked up Deni Avdija over the next 10 minutes.
Meanwhile Harper went on a blistering offensive run that completely rewrote the game. He showed that his offensive emergence in the second half of the season can carry on in the playoffs.
When it was all said and done, the kids saved the Spurs, giving them the series lead when it looked like they were going to need Wembanyama to bring them back in it. It looks like the Spurs’ inexperience may not be as big of a problem as it once appeared. — Jared Weiss
Blazers will Jrue that loss
It’s been almost eight years since Jrue Holiday led the New Orleans Pelicans to a four-game sweep of the Trail Blazers in the first round of the playoffs. In an ironic twist, Holiday — now in his 17th season — is trying to help a Blazers team he once eliminated advance past the first round.
Holiday’s performance in Game 3 showed he still has some juice. He looked dominant throughout the first three quarters, knocking down deep pull-up jumpers and forcing turnovers. He finished the game with 29 points, 6 rebounds, 5 assists and 4 steals. He made five 3-pointers, with four of those triples coming before halftime. Portland had 65 points at the break and appeared headed for a big night offensively.
Unfortunately for Portland, that was not enough to withstand the tidal wave run the Spurs went on starting in the middle of the third quarter. Portland had an 82-67 lead with 5:09 remaining in the third. The Spurs outscored the Trail Blazers 53-26 the rest of the way.
The Trail Blazers wasted good games from both members of their starting backcourt. Holiday was excellent, and Scoot Henderson (21 points) had another strong night. But while Deni Avdija shot 12-of-16 on free throws, he struggled to convert inside in a 3-of-15 shooting performance. That was a key reason the Trail Blazers only managed to score 43 points after halftime. —Christian Clark
