, which rallied from a 15-point deficit in the fourth quarter to snap a four-game skid in San Antonio.''We've blown leads before, so we kind of know what to expect,'' McCollum said. ''Once you do it, you've got to stay grounded, focus on the little stuff.'' Before the game, Popovich said coaching could only go so far and it was up to each player to take responsibility for his own mistakes and performance during this losing streak. Popovich put that responsibility squarely on the Spurs when he was ejected early in the third quarter.Popovich was ejected after walking onto the court to berate official Jason Goldenberg over a non-call. Popovich calmly walked off the court following his first ejection of the season.Duncan, Hammon and Will Hardy coached by committee, but it was Duncan calling the plays and screaming out instruction.''It was cool,'' Spurs guard Bryn Forbes said. ''It didn't really feel like a huge difference. I think he did a good job. He took control. He helped lead us to a big lead.'' San Antonio took a 111-104 lead with 4 minutes remaining but couldn't hold on. Portland took a 114-111 lead on Rodney Hood's three-point play on a left-handed hook and foul on DeMar DeRozan.DeRozan was later called for a charge against Hood that was changed to a pushing foul after a coaching challenge by the Spurs. The Blazers took a 116-113 lead with 37 seconds following the review.DeRozan was still upset by the call after the game, stating Hood hit him in the face prior to any possible push off.''As soon as we say something out on the court, we get a tech,'' DeRozan said. ''We're held responsible for things we say about the refs, but when refs cost us the game, I don't know what we get. An apology later on after it's reviewed?''After trailing by 23 points in the opening minute of the second quarter, the Spurs went on a 34-15 run capped by Aldridge's sixth 3-pointer. Aldridge had 10 3-pointers last season.The Spurs stormed to a 96-90 lead late in the third quarter behind a series of energy plays that drew thunderous cheers from the previously restrained crowd.''We've got to play the way we played after Pop got kicked out the full game,'' DeRozan said. ''Fighting against bad calls, so many things out there, we just listened, went out there and played hard.'' Bryn Forbes added 17 points and DeRozan and Rudy Gay added 16 apiece.TIP-INSTrail Blazers: Portland's bench had 25 points led by eight peach by Mario Hezonja and Kent Bazemore. . The Blazers lost 113-110 in San Antonio on Oct. 28 when Lillard's 3-pointer at the buzzer rattled out of the rim.Spurs: The Spurs entered the season with a losing record for only 65 days since 1998. . Aldridge's career high for 3-pointers is 37 set in 2015 and his highest percentage is 41% set in 2017.MUSCLE MELOLillard and McCollum both reached out to Carmelo Anthony after he agreed to sign with the Trail Blazers.Anthony has not played since Nov. 8, 2018, with the Houston Rockets, but he spent the past summer working out with McCollum and others.''He looks like he's changed his body a little bit,'' McCollum said. ''Started lifting more on his legs, his lower half. He was dunking this summer. He doesn't usually dunk, so that's how I knew he was feeling good. I don't know if it was because of the work or because he's been off or a combination, but he looked like he had new life, more bounce in his step.'' UP NEXTTrail Blazers: At Houston on Monday night.Spurs: At Dallas on Monday night.---More NBA: https://apnews.com/NBA and https://twitter.com/-Sports)
Nov 16, 2019The stamina of the road-weary San Antonio Spurs will be put to the test when they host the rested and ready Portland Trail Blazers on Saturday in a matchup of two of the season's surprisingly slow-starting teams.The Spurs headed home on an overnight flight after a 111-109 loss to the Orlando Magic on Friday, and now they must prepare for the second game of road-home back-to-back. San Antonio, which has lost four consecutive games, will play its following four games on the road after the Blazers' visit.The Spurs led by as many as 16 points in the first half, but Orlando came back and turned the game into a back-and-forth contest before outlasting San Antonio at the end.DeMar DeRozan led the Spurs with 21 points, with Rudy Gay hitting for 14 and LaMarcus Aldridge and Patty Mills scoring 13 points each. Bryn Forbes added 12 points and Dejounte Murray had 10 points for San Antonio in the loss.The Spurs have their youngest roster since Gregg Popovich became head coach in 1996, featuring an average age of 26.3 years old. The roster includes nine players under the age of 25 and 11 of 17 players under 27, and it's taking the team some time to jell."We've got a good mixture," Forbes said. "Our second group has a lot of ball movement, and movement, period. Then we have two premier scorers, and we let them do isolations. We have a lot of different sides to us." Saturday's dustup is the opener of a daunting six-games-in-10-days road trip for the struggling Blazers, who have lost six of their past seven games. Portland's latest setback came Wednesday night at home, 114-106 to the defending NBA champ Toronto Raptors. The result dropped the Trail Blazers to 1-4 at home."This is a winning team, and we'll be that when the time is right," Portland's Kent Bazemore said.Lillard scored just nine points in that setback, snapping a team-record, 230-game streak of tallying in double figures. He downplayed the team's surprising early-season case of the doldrums."It's not the end of the world," Lillard said after the loss. "We're up against it. This is a tough position to be in, especially when your expectations were much higher. But like I said before, it's a lot of games to be played, and I think, especially for us, we always find a way to turn it around." Lillard is averaging 30.5 points per game. He scored 330 points in the Blazers' first 10 games, the most over the first 10 games of a season in franchise history.Portland is expected to sign former All-Star forward Carmelo Anthony on Saturday in San Antonio if he passes his final physical exam. He's not expected to play for the Blazers until Tuesday in New Orleans -- after a Monday game against the team he last suited up for, the Houston Rockets.This is the second of three meetings between the Blazers and Spurs this season. On Oct. 29, host San Antonio survived a last-second Lillard 3-point attempt and a furious fourth-quarter Portland rally to win 113-110. Both teams held 19-point leads in what was a wild game.--Field Level Media
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