The Spurs were playing the second half of a back-to-back, on the road in a notoriously tough place to win, with stars that are notoriously still pretty old.
It begs the question: Had David Stern not dropped the boom earlier this season with a $250,000 dollar fine for keeping their stars out, would Gregg Popovich rest his starters in another nationally televised game?
Maybe, maybe not. Only Pop knows. But what we do know is that the Spurs played with a full deck against the Portland Trailblazers, and a young rookie point guard completely stole show.
Damian Lillard was sensational against the Spurs, pouring in a career-high 29 points to go alongside seven rebounds and six assists in a solid 98-90 win for the young Blazers.
After getting saddled with a few early fouls against Tony Parker, Lillard settled in and grew more comfortable as the game went on, pulling off moves against Parker like he was walk-on at a Big Sky Conference school and not a four-time champion.
With Lillard’s step-back game on point and LaMarcus Aldridge providing some steady offense (22 points, 10-for-16) on the block, the Blazers were able to survive despite their typical shaky depth. The Spurs got 40 of their 90 points from their bench, but failed to get any of their outside shooters going in a 6-for-19 effort from behind the arc.
Although they hung around in typical Spurs fashion, it was Nicolas Batum who closed out a game that Manu Ginobili looked primed to take over. In a one-possession game with a little over a minute left, Batum curled off a screen and fired with no hesitation, nailing a 3-pointer that seemed to take the sails out of the Spurs ship. Batum wisely double-tapped the zombie Spurs though by blocking Parker’s layup attempt and sealing it late with two free throws.
This loss, of course, is almost completely meaningless to the Spurs. For a team that knows they’ll be in the playoffs, games like these are nothing but glorified practices. They want to win, of course, but it doesn’t really set them off path with a loss. But for a young squad like Portland in need of positive reinforcement? Wins don’t get much better than this.