San Antonio Spurs beat Portland Trail Blazers 120-108 on the road on Friday, April 24.
The game, quarter by quarter
The Trail Blazers struck first, taking the opening quarter 29-27 and a 2-point lead after one. The Trail Blazers kept the pressure on with a 36-32 second quarter, carrying a 6-point lead into halftime.
The Spurs won the third 29-22 to turn the game around, taking a 1-point lead into the fourth. The Spurs took the fourth 32-21; the Spurs finished the job for a 120-108 regulation win.
What decided it
The Spurs got more from their shots, finishing at 56.3% effective field-goal shooting compared with 48.9% for the Trail Blazers. The Spurs made 25.3 free throws per 100 field-goal attempts, compared with 22.2 for the Trail Blazers. That shooting gap supplied the clearest edge.
The Trail Blazers did win one battle, ball security: TOV% of 10.3 against 13.2. The Spurs made up for it elsewhere.
At roughly 98 possessions per team, the Spurs produced 123 points per 100 possessions to 110.7 for the Trail Blazers.
Who made the difference
Jrue Holiday was the game's biggest individual force for POR: 29 pts, 6 reb, 5 ast, 4 stl on 12-18 shooting. His Game Score of 27.7 led everyone. His team was -7 with him on the floor.
Dylan Harper led the Spurs with 27 pts, 10 reb, 3 ast on 9-12 shooting, good for a 27.2 Game Score.
Luke Kornet (14 pts, 10 reb, 2 ast) and Dylan Harper (27 pts, 10 reb, 3 ast) each recorded a double-double.
What it means
The pre-game Win Meter had it close to a coin flip, at about 63% for the Spurs.
Across the last 9 meetings in our records, San Antonio Spurs lead 6-3.
Written automatically by Tip Off Live software from box score data. Ratings and probabilities are our own model estimates.