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The bright moments of the Spurs loss to the Trail Blazers

The Spurs’ second half surge falls short.

NBA: Portland Trail Blazers at San Antonio Spurs Scott Wachter-USA TODAY Sports

The Spurs did their best to come back against the Trail Blazers, but the Silver and Black were not able to get over the hump. Keldon Johnson led the Spurs with 25 points while Doug McDermott scored 14 points off the bench. Keita Bates-Diop and Devin Vassell each had 13 apiece. The Spurs defense had their claws out on Wednesday night, notching 9 steals. Josh Richardson himself had 4 swipes at the basketball.

After an impressive 3-game winning streak to halt an 11-game losing skid, the Spurs will look to prevent another losing streak.

Jeremy Sochan glided his way across the paint for this left-handed kiss off the glass. He demonstrated his rangy, but smooth offensive game. The rookie also appears to be getting more comfortable running point when Tre Jones is on the bench.

The season may have its roller coaster of ups and down, but the Spurs prized rookie continues to ascend steadily upward in his development.

Charles Bassey kept the blocks flowing in his first NBA start, and this rejection landed perfectly in Johnson’s mitts where the Mustang then raced to the other end for a beautiful lay-in.

Here, Johnson quickly dumps the ball off to Bassey at the last second for a nice finish at the rim. Johnson, for his part, rebounded well (figuratively and literally) in this game against the Trail Blazers. The Spurs forward pulled down 7 rebounds in addition to leading the good guys in scoring.

Tre Jones showed off some moves with a crossover, double-pump, reverse latte lay-up. Jones scored 10 points but also dished out a team-high 6 assists. As usual, he provided the steady hand that drove the Spurs offense.

Remember those 4 steals mentioned earlier? Richardson was on fire on the defensive end, riding the flames on this particular steal to the opposite floor for a not-too-spicy lay-up.

The Trail Blazers Spurs game was wild–particularly in the second half: human sacrifice, dogs and cats living together, centers with threading-the-needle-passes to the point guard, mass hysteria!

assell takes off in the open court to land this transition dunk. The bucket came courtesy of one of his three steals in the game.

And last, but never least, the full-game highlights:

Next up, the Spurs stay at the AT&T Center to take on the Miami Heat on Saturday, December 17, 2023.