San Antonio Spurs vs Portland Trail Blazers Match Player Stats On Dec 20, 2017

The Sports Xchange
Dec 21, 2017

PORTLAND, Ore. -- LaMarcus Aldridge had 22 points and eight rebounds, and Pau Gasol collected 20 points, 17 rebounds and five assists as the San Antonio Spurs seized a 93-91 victory over the Portland Trail Blazers on Wednesday night at Moda Center.

The Spurs (22-10) shot 51.3 percent from the field and outrebounded Portland 53-38 en route to their 11th win in 14 outings.

Damian Lillard scored 17 points for the Trail Blazers (16-15), who lost for the fifth straight time at home.

The Blazers had a chance to win at the end, but CJ McCollum's 3-point attempt bounced off the rim as time expired.

Aldridge and Gasol each scored 16 points as San Antonio, shooting 58.1 percent from the field, raced to a 54-46 halftime lead. Lillard had 14 for Portland at the break.

San Antonio led 57-48 early in the third quarter, but Portland stormed back to take a 63-61 lead on McCollum's short jumper -- his first basket after missing his first 11 shots from the field. Kyle Anderson's 3-pointer at the buzzer gave the Spurs a 74-72 edge going into the final period.

Portland scored the first eight points of the fourth quarter to go ahead 80-74. San Antonio rallied to go on top 84-83 with 6:07 left.

The teams battled back and forth, with Patty Mills giving the Spurs a 90-87 lead on a layup with 2:04 left.

McCollum scored on a driving bank shot to make it 90-89 with 1:40 to go. Mills' jump hook pushed San Antonio's lead to 92-89 with 27.5 seconds remaining.

McCollum's rebound basket cut the margin to 92-91 with 18.4 seconds to go.

Aldridge sank 1 of 2 at the line to give the Spurs a 93-91 advantage with 15.4 ticks left before McCollum missed a pair of shots in the closing seconds.

Jusuf Nurkic scored 15 points for Portland, which got 14 apiece from Evan Turner and Shabazz Napier.

NOTES: San Antonio sat F Kawhi Leonard and G Tony Parker as part of the club's health-management program. Leonard and Parker, recovering from quadriceps injuries, will play the second of back-to-back games Thursday at Utah. "The medical people felt it would be better to have two days' rest instead of one," coach Gregg Popovich said. "Depending on how they feel at Utah, they may get limited minutes against Sacramento on Saturday." ... Popovich, on the play of Spurs F LaMarcus Aldridge this season: "He's been an All-Star performer. He has carried us consistently at both ends of the court. It seems like every night, he has been at the top of his game at both ends -- running the floor, rebounding, protecting the rim, scoring for us." ... Since the start of the 2008-09 season, Portland is 19-14 against San Antonio, including 10-5 at home. Last season, the teams split four meetings.