PORTLAND, Ore. (KATU) — The Portland Trail Blazers missed a chance to advance to the knockout stage of the NBA Cup In-Season tournament after a 115-102 loss to San Antonio on Wednesday night at the Moda Center.
Deni Avdija scored a second-chance bucket to start the second half to pull the Blazers even on the scoreboard, but San Antonio knocked down five straight shots to build a 68-63 lead that it would not surrender the rest of the way.
“We couldn’t get stops at some key moments, and that’s the game right there,” Blazers coach Tiago Splitter said.
Avdija hit a 3-pointer to pull the Blazers within two, early in the fourth quarter, but once again the Spurs answered with a 10-point surge to put the game out of reach.
San Antonio’s De’Aaron Fox finished with a game-high 37 points, going a perfect 12-for-12 at the free-throw line.
Avdija also put up 37 points for the Blazers, hitting 5-for-8 (62.5%) from behind the arc.
Portland returns to the court at 3 p.m. Sunday at home against Oklahoma City.