The Portland Trail Blazers defeated the San Antonio Spurs, 121-108, at Moda Center on Saturday evening.
The hard-fought contest fittingly began with a 22-22 deadlock over the first 12 minutes. However, the Trail Blazers (2-0) outscored the Spurs (1-1) by a 75-60 margin over the second and third quarters to gain distance, and they then held serve over the final 12 minutes to post the double-digit victory. Shooting was a key to the win, with Portland draining an impressive 53.6 percent of their attempts and San Antonio managing a 42.4 percent success rate from the field. As customary, a significant portion of the Blazers offense flowed through their backcourt, as the star duo of Damian Lillard and C.J. McCollum combining for 53 points on identical 9-for-15 shooting efforts.
DeMar DeRozan paced the Spurs with 28 points, a total he supplemented with nine assists, three rebounds and two steals. Bryn Forbes was a distant second with 17 points and added three assists and two rebounds. LaMarcus Aldridge and Rudy Gay contributed matching 12-point tallies, with the veteran duo also hauling in eight and seven rebounds, respectively. Davis Bertans (11 points) and Paul Gasol (10 points) were productive off the bench.
Lillard's 29 points led the Trail Blazers, and he also contributed nine assists and two rebounds. McCollum followed with 24 points and a pair of assists and rebounds apiece. Jusuf Nurkic offered 12 points, eight rebounds, two assists, one steal and one block. Al-Farouq Aminu went for 10 points, six rebounds, one assist and one block. Zach Collins led the bench with 11 points.
The Spurs remain on their West Coast swing and next face the Lakers on Monday night, while the Trail Blazers remain home and tangle with the Washington Wizards on Monday evening as well.
