Spurs' balanced attack dooms Trail Blazers

[November 17, 2015]  SAN ANTONIO -- Six players scored in double-figures for the San Antonio Spurs in their 93-80 win against the Portland Trail Blazers Monday and their prized off-season, free agent pickup -- former Trail Blazers' forward LaMarcus Aldridge -- wasn't one of them.

Aldridge scored just six points, all in the first half, but the Spurs have so many weapons they really didn't need him, at least not this time around.

Forward Kawhi Leonard scored 19 points and veteran guards Manu Ginobili and Tony Parker hit key shots down the stretch as the San Antonio won for the fifth straight game.

The Spurs (8-2) led for all but two minutes in the first quarter but the game went down to the final minutes, when the Trail Blazers got to within 81-78 on a 3-pointer by forward Noah Vonleh with 3:48 to play. San Antonio outscored Portland 12-2 down the stretch.

Ginobili added 17 points for the Spurs, including nine straight in the final quarter, while forward Boris Diaw and guard Danny Green hit for 12 and Parker and forward Tim Duncan scored 10 apiece.

"We kept them to 80 points and that gave us some air," Ginobili said. "If we would have played like this in another game, we might have lost by 20. It's good that our defense was able to hold us."

Portland (4-8) got a game-high 27 points from guard Damian Lillard. Forward Al-Farouq Aminu added 17 points and guard C.J. McCollum hit for 15 points for the Trail Blazers. It was the sixth consecutive loss for Portland.

"I'm not worried about us getting used to losing -- we just have to learn to win," Lillard said. "We do all these things to give ourselves a chance but when it's winning time the other teams are doing a better job. I don't think we should be worried."

San Antonio's bench outscored the Portland reserves 36-11 with 29 of those coming from Ginobili and Diaw.

"Those two guys generated a lot of offense for us," Spurs coach Gregg Popovich said. "We were stuck in the mud without them. Tony [Parker] did a good job defensively setting the tone and Boris [Diaw] and Manu [Ginobili] were our offensive sparks."

The Spurs led 36-28 at the half despite shooting only 30 percent prior to the break while the Trail Blazers shot 31 percent. It was the lowest first-half output for either team this season and Portland's 28 points were just four points more than its franchise low.

The last thing any team can do when it is playing the Spurs is to be reckless with the ball. San Antonio put a stamp on that notion midway through the third quarter when the Trail Blazers committed turnovers on consecutive possessions and both miscues led to baskets by the Spurs, the second of which was a tomahawk dunk by Leonard.

The mini-run expanded San Antonio's lead to 51-38, the largest of the game for the Spurs. But the Trail Blazers kept chipping away, cutting their deficit to 65-60 at the end of the third quarter as Lillard struck for 16 points in the period.

San Antonio began the final quarter on a 10-2 run as Green and Ginobili hit 3-pointers. The Trail Blazers never got to within three points the rest of the way.

"My biggest concern is that we compete," Trail Blazers coach Terry Stotts said. "Certainly you don't like to lose and you don't want to lose, but you can learn from losing. I don't think that will take any from any of our competitive juices."

NOTES: The Spurs beat the Trail Blazers in Portland 113-101 on Nov. 11 and posted a season high in first-half scoring (58 points), field-goal percentage (56.1 percent) and 3-point field-goal percentage (46.7 percent). ... Spurs F LaMarcus Aldridge spent his first nine NBA seasons with the Trail Blazers and was San Antonio's leading scorer (23 points) in his first game against his former team on Nov. 11. ... Spurs F Tim Duncan passed former teammate David Robinson for fifth all-time on the NBA career blocks list and became the franchise's leader in the category with five blocks Nov. 14 against the 76ers. ... After shooting just 64.2 percent from the free-throw line through their first seven games, the Trail Blazers have hit 84 of 106 (79.2 percent) from the charity stripe in their past four contests before Monday. ... Guard C.J. McCollum has scored at least 15 points in all of Portland's 12 games this season and 15 straight contests dating back to the NBA playoffs last year. ... Guard Allen Crabbe scored a career-high 17 points on 8 of 11 shooting in 27 minutes off the Trail Blazers' bench on Nov. 15 against Charlotte. He has now led Portland's reserve unit in scoring seven times this season.

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