The Spurs continue their four-game road trip out West on Saturday, in a first-round playoff rematch with the Blazers in Portland. This will be the second night of a back-to-back for both teams. The defending Western Conference champs won 124-109 over the Kings with no one playing more than 28 minutes. The Blazers led the Lakers 60-53 at the half, but scored just 15 in the third quarter and fell 124-118 to Luka Magic, who dropped 53. Avdija logged 39 minutes in the loss, Lillard 37 and Holiday 31.
Portland is also short-handed. Ja Morant, Shaedon Sharpe and Vit Krejci are all out -- yet their offense still ranks second in the league in efficiency. Their last four games came against defenses ranked 20th or worse. San Antonio will shrink the floor and force tough contested shots.
On top of that, the Blazers will be at a minutes disadvantage against a young core and I'm not sure they can match the pace of Stephon Castle and Dylan Harper. Six of San Antonio's seven wins have come by six or more points, and their defense allows 108.7 a game -- top 10 in the league. I like them to clear the number in Portland.
Spurs vs Trail Blazers prediction: Spurs -5.5 (+102) available at time of publishing.
