The Portland Trail Blazers look to end a four-game skid at home against the San Antonio Spurs, and they may be getting more help to do it.
The Blazers announced that both Donovan Clingan and Robert Williams III have been upgraded to questionable (even as Deandre Ayton now appears there for battling illness), and a solid center rotation would be helpful against a future All-NBA talent in Victor Wembanyama.
Portland Trail Blazers (8-16) vs. San Antonio Spurs (12-12) – Fri. Dec. 13- 7pm Pacific
How to watch via antenna or cable: See your options on the Rip City Television Network
How to watch via streaming: BlazerVision in Oregon and Washington; League Pass everywhere else
Trail Blazers injuries: Donovan Clingan, Robert Williams III, Deandre Ayton (questionable); Duop Reath (doubtful); Matisse Thybulle (out)
Spurs injuries: Stephon Castle, Keldon Johnson, Zach Collins, Tre Jones (out)
The Spurs are an average team: they’re middle of the pack in offense, defense, rebounding, pace… name a statistical category, and you will find the Spurs are aggressively unremarkable.
While Chris Paul is in his (approximately) 63rd NBA season, he’s still effective in his 30-ish minutes a game, even attempting more threes in any year since 2019, his last in Houston. And while Victor Wembanyama hasn’t had the convincingly meteoric rise some expected after his rookie season, he is better: he’s staying on the court a bit longer (going from 29 to 32 minutes a game) and has pulled his effective field goal percentage from 51.9% to 56.5%. How? Simple: last year he took 33% of his shots from deep. This year, it’s half. Yes, the man who is 7’4” and longer than nearly anyone who’s ever played the game is taking only half of his shots from inside the arc.
Without both Stephon Castle and Keldon Johnson, the Spurs are missing about 50 minutes per game in rotation minutes. If the Blazers can get reinforcements in the form of Donovan Clingan and Robert Williams III, this will be a fair fight. If not – especially if they’re also missing both Duop Reath and Deandre Ayton – the Spurs (and particularly Wembanyama) may have to reconsider drifting so far towards the arc and instead bring their game inside where they will meet little to no resistance.
Reader Questions
Before most games, we ask you all to make our previews better by asking us questions! Keep your eyes peeled for posts just like this to add your questions and (possibly) have them answered right here in these very previews!
From ronchez:
Will the Blazers play good for 2 or more quarters, or will it be a bust?
Clingan and Williams are competitors, and I’m one of those people who thinks on-court competitiveness is spreading. If they both play, I think we’ll see a spirited game from Portland. If they don’t, I don’t think we will.
From RedUniInLA:
Will Wemby’s thin bones break against the mountain of low-post bang that is Donovan Clingan?
Wembanyama’s frame may be thin, but it’s bamboo thin, not spaghetti noodle thin. Dude is strong and flexible. I love Cling Kong, but I’m not convinced he is now – or will ever be – a Wemby stopper. Would love to be wrong on that, though!
From conspirator5:
How is Jeremy Sochan looking now that they are not forcing him to run point anymore?
Better! I’m not going to pretend I watch the Spurs closely, but the numbers suggest his shooting improved for the opposite reason from Wembanyama: Sochan is now taking 54% of his shots from 0-3 feet as a power forward compared to 33% last year. It’s therefore no surprise his FG% jumped from 43.8% to a cool 50%. He’s not a three-point shooter and may never be, so having his offense originate from places where he can actually do something useful has been a help.
From LeftCoaster25:
The Spurs are currently a .500 team. Are they on the path to true title contention? What are they missing?
Yes, just not any time soon. Things are different when you have a young generational star. You’re able to credibly say you did the most important thing by getting your alpha, and now have the luxury of moving other pieces around that player. The Spurs are still early in their building. They need functional depth. They need 2A and 2B stars. If Chris Paul were a dozen years younger, they’d be halfway there. As it stands, as much as Wemby wants to win now, they are still years and many moves away from being talked about like Oklahoma City, but the vision is blissfully simple for them.
From TheLongHotWinter:
Did I pay too much to get a Sc00t glass and see Wemby?
No. Those glasses rock. And seeing Wembanyama in person will be a treat, regardless of game outcome. Consider yourself lucky!
From Keith Feltner-Smith:
A whopping 52 players have played for both the Blazers and the Spurs… among these five players, pick your favorite (and you must shun the other four): LaMarcus Aldridge, Patty Mills, Andre Miller, Zach Collins, Jerome Kersey.
Why do I gotta SHUN them?? For better or worse, I’ve never been a big “shun” guy… I get pissed sometimes, but I am almost always willing to loop back with people and make things right. That said, I will take the question at face value and pick one, and it’s going to be Jerome Kersey with a bullet. Yes, LaMarcus was the better player, and Miller has the better unexpected dunk (not to mention the legendary freight training of Blake Griffin)…
…but it’s Kersey. As a lynchpin of the late 80s and early 90s Blazers, the only Blazers team in my lifetime that had sustained contender-level success, I don’t think you can write about the history of this team without him. No offense to LMA, but he chose moving to Texas over cementing his legacy in Portland. Because he never reached meaningful postseason success, he is already being forgotten to the drifting sands of time.
What to Look For:
Centers… it’s the centers, right? Especially if Donovan Clingan plays? The Blazers have been all over the map this season: this isn’t a pointing of the finger, it’s an observation. In a year like this, it’s hard to spot teamwide trends that are informed by something durable and lasting, so it’s probably better to zoom down to the player level and watch for individual development where you can see it. And I can think of no better Blazer to do that with than Donovan Clingan… especially when he goes against elite competition as his position like Wemby.
About the Opponent:
Jeff McDonald of the San Antonio Express-News writes about Spurs interim coach Mitch Johnson as he fills in for the legendary Gregg Popovich following a stroke in early November, and how Johnson is finding his own way despite the interim title:
The more time Fields spent around Johnson, the more he realized something else. This kid understood more about the Xs and Os of basketball than anyone else Fields knew, including some of his coaches. Watching NBA games with Johnson back then was like peering into a crystal ball. He could often predict what was going to happen on a possession before it even began. “When he talked basketball, I learned not to debate him,” Fields said. “I would always lose.”
Fields recalls an NCAA tournament game against Marquette in 2008, when Johnson had the Golden Eagles all but figured out. Time and time again, Johnson set star center Brook Lopez up for hook shots from the left block. Lopez finished with 30 points, Johnson 16 assists. With the game on the line in overtime, Johnson went back to that well again, table-setting the winning basket for Lopez with three seconds remaining. “He just had this ability to see every opening on the floor,” Fields said.
Dusty Garza for NEWS4SA wrote about Spurs rookie guard Stephon Castle, and how the Spurs have been finding cohesion despite absences and injuries – including to himself:
The Spurs have been navigating an ever-changing rotation this season, with injuries and player returns causing constant adjustments. Castle has emerged as a key piece in that mix, and he’s relishing the opportunity to build chemistry with his teammates. “We’re definitely finding a rhythm,” Castle noted. “Certain lineups are starting to click, and it’s exciting to think about what we’ll look like when everyone’s healthy.” Castle also emphasized the team’s focus on defense, an area that defined their early success but has slipped in recent weeks. “Defense was our identity early on, and it got us a lot of wins. Lately, it’s dipped a bit, so we’re trying to get back to what worked—better rotations, building the wall in transition, and cutting down on turnovers.”
