Brandon Roy tallied a game-high 24 points,
and Greg Oden held his own against Tim Duncan, as Portland led wire-to-wire in
a 96-84 victory over San Antonio.
Oden recorded 14 points, eight rebounds and four blocks for the Trail Blazers,
who have split their first six games of the season. Steve Blake ended with 15
points, while Andre Miller chipped in 10.
"It's a good win for us," Blazers head coach Nate McMillan said. "We're trying
to find our rhythm. Tonight I felt like we had a good rhythm. The offensive
execution, the movement, was better. We got the tempo we wanted."
Richard Jefferson paced San Antonio with 19 points, while Manu Ginobili added
17 in the club's second straight loss. Duncan logged 14 points and eight
boards for the Spurs, who were without Tony Parker for the second half due to
an ankle injury.
San Antonio trailed the entire game but scored eight straight midway through
the fourth to pull within a possession, 75-72, with 5 1/2 minutes left.
Roy hit a jumper and a free throw to extend the margin, and Oden challenged a
Duncan miss before hitting a bucket at the other end.
Roger Mason cooled the spurt with a three-pointer, and Jefferson hit a shot
while being fouled with 2:55 remaining. Jefferson missed the free throw,
however, and Blake drained a three at the other end.
The Spurs got as close as five, 87-82, after Ginobili's three-point play with
1:47 to play. But Travis Outlaw hit a big shot at the left elbow as the shot
clock was winding down, and the Blazers sealed it at the foul line after Mason
missed a pair of three-point attempts.
Portland scored the game's first eight points and ended the opening quarter on
a 13-2 run to jump out to a 29-14 cushion.
The Spurs cut it to 51-40 at halftime and scored nine of the last 11 points in
the third to trail 68-58 with 12 minutes to play.
"It took us 24 minutes to start competing," Ginobili said. "We can't allow
ourselves to make those mistakes. We start too soft and we're always behind
the curve."
Game Notes
The Blazers dropped their previous two home games...The Blazers took three of
four from San Antonio last year...Joel Przybilla pulled down a game-high 13
rebounds for Portland...Antonio McDyess and George Hill each had eight points
in reserve roles for the Spurs, who shot 38.0 percent from the floor.
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