Jakob Poeltl’s career night not quite enough in Spurs’ loss to Trail Blazers

Coming off a destructive loss at the hand of the Golden State Warriors Monday night, the Spurs looked to get back on track with a dub in Portland against the Trail Blazers. This time, the result wasn’t a blowout, but a tough loss due to some late-game miscues. Despite the loss, the Spurs had a much better shooting night shooting 51.8% (44/85) from the field and 31% (9/29) from three-point land. They also had an uptick in their assists with 34 compared to 18 against the Warriors. This would probably have to do with the fact that their floor general Tre Jones made his return to the starting lineup tonight, finishing with 10 assists of his own.

Jakob Poeltl may just have played the best game of his life finishing with 34 points (14/17 FG), 14 rebounds, and 5 assists! He was cooking up buckets in the paint against Jusuf Nurkic and former Spur Drew Eubanks. Most of his buckets came off of assists by some great finds by the Spurs’ playmakers.

Here’s one from Keldon Johnson.

And another.

Here’s one from floor general Tre Jones.

Jak decides to zoom past Nurkic here for the finish. He can also be an underrated playmaker himself, you know.

Keldon also finished with a nice stat line of his own, having 20 points, five rebounds, five assists, and two steals. He’s continuing to show why he may get his first all-star appearance this season.

Drew and the Spurs got to reconnect pregame (look at Tre Jones)!

Nonetheless, this pregame meet-up didn’t change Poeltl and the Spurs’ mindset against the Blazers. Here’s one of the many beautiful ball movement showings from the game.

Devin Vassell had a bounce-back game with 22 points (7/15 FG). He continues to show why he’s one of the league’s most underrated stars by knocking down a pair of threes in the early first quarter.

Not only can Devin shoot with the best of them, but he can also put it on the floor.

He also shows why he’s a two-way player with the steal and slam here.

Josh Richardson finished with 4 points and 5 assists off the bench and got another buzzer buzzer-beater (1st quarter) on the season here.

This was undoubtedly the play of the game for the Spurs. Isaiah Roby, having only played six minutes, slammed it on Anfernee Simons for the and-one. He finished with 4 points and a rebound. Not really sure why he’s not getting more playing time with plays like this.

Jeremy Sochan wasn’t the starting point guard this time, but he still managed to have four assists to go along with six points, four rebounds, and two blocks. It’s starting to get rare to see him play a game, and not get a dunk in.

Keita Bates-Diop finished with 10 points, four rebounds, two assists, and this steal here which also turned into a nice finish on the other end.

Dougie McBuckets had an off-shooting night, but nonetheless finished six points off the bench including this and-one.

Charles Bassey highlight! He finished with six points, five rebounds, an assist, and a block. Two of his six points came on this slam here.

And finally, here are the full game highlights. (The NBA really needs to update Jerami Grant’s picture.)