The San Antonio Spurs dropped a game at home to the Portland Trail Blazers, and were quick to credit their opponent's defense.
The San Antonio Spurs, after a road win over the Indiana Pacers, returned to the Frost Bank Center for the second game of a back-to-back, once again without Devin Vassell and Victor Wembanyama. The shorthanded Spurs shot only 32% from 3-point range and fell to the Blazers 115-110.
For the first time in his Silver and Black career, Luke Kornet led the Spurs with 23 points. However, San Antonio struggled to find him down low as much as they would have liked, and credited Portland's pick-and-roll defense for their lackluster scoring output.
"They stay home with shooters, especially in pick and roll," explained De'Aaron Fox, who finished with 19 points and only four assists. "They have, obviously, a really good shot blocker, and he sits back in the paint. They have good on-ball defenders, and they try to make you play two-on-two. They try to make the guard shoot basically every time. So you have to make a conscious effort to obviously continue to move, try to move the ball, because it can get really stagnant the way that they play defense."
Spurs Lacked Shooting Confidence
While the Spurs were unable to get downhill to attack the basket, Mitch Johnson thinks the Spurs were hesitating too much on 3-point shots and would have liked to have seen them shoot more, even if they weren't making them at a league-average clip.
"I don't know if that was more of a byproduct of us missing the shots or what their defense was doing, but regardless, you can't turn down shots in this league," said the head coach. "When you get a good shot, you got to take it, regardless of what's been going on, if it's open and in rhythm, and it's the right shot for us or the team, but definitely tip of the cap to them."
The Spurs took only 31 3-pointers in the game, six fewer than they average. Of course, with Harrison Barnes, Kelly Olynyk, and Stephon Castle struggling to find any rhythm, it wasn't like they were shooting with confidence.
"They obviously pressured the ball, and then they've got some rim protectors and stuff like that, and that's kind of the style that they play," added Kornet. "That's kind of, I think, a lot of their identity with a lot of big wings that they play and trying to disrupt things."
The Spurs have been able to beat teams with "bigger wings" this season, namely the Houston Rockets and Oklahoma City Thunder, although they struggled against the Blazers last night and the Phoenix Suns twice already this season. Of course, with Wembvanyama out, options are a bit more limited, although the Spurs have proven this season that they are better than what they showed in the loss.