What Spurs, Trail Blazers said after Friday’s game

Here’s a sampling of the post-game comments from both locker rooms after the Spurs’ 99-83 victory over Portland Friday night.

Spurs coach Gregg Popovich:

(On turnovers in the first quarter)

“Well, I thought we obviously did a better job in the second quarter. In the second half I think they had 36 points or so, and you’re not going to do that very often. I thought we earned it. We competed well. We had a lot of guys that competed defensively and rebounding wise in the second half and it generated a lot for us. Then Tony (Parker) ran the show and kept us even for the whole game. We had some individual performances by guys that were really great. Obviously, Tiago (Splitter) and Danny Green did a great job. Kawhi (Leonard) had a wonderful all around game. We got a lot of good play to go with the defense, so it worked out for us tonight.

(On assessing Kawhi Leonard’s defensive I.Q.)

“Well he definitely has a knack defensively. He has a good nose for the ball. He seems to understand what is going on out there and he reads situations pretty well. That is a nice natural gift.

(On Tiago Splitter’s improvement from last season)

“He has the same exact skills that he had last year. He is just healthy and he’s playing. He is more confident. That is the one place where his game has changed from the past, but everything else is the same. He has been doing this for years in Europe and everywhere. He is a blue-collar guy who just does the basics really, really well. He is a great competitor.”

(On the absence of Marcus Camby)

“He is a tough nut to crack down there. He is really good. He had a couple of blocks before he got hurt and it certainly does change things on the boards for them and defensively.”

Spurs forward Tiago Splitter:

(On the bench stepping up tonight)

“Yeah, we did a pretty good job coming off the bench helping the guys ands playing hard. We played hard defense. Gary (Neal) played like the point guard and Danny (Green) brought energy and  it’s hard to match-up against us.”

 (On the performance of the young players on this team)

“Yeah, when you’re going to play against Portland, you have to play hard and that’s what we did. They played tough and physical, we have to do that.”

(On the turnovers in the first quarter and making it up in the second half)

“Once again, there were a lot of turnovers like you said, but we run the floor well. We made easy buckets and we had great defense. If we play like this every night, it’s going to be tough to beat the Spurs.”

(On the match-up against LaMarcus Aldridge)

“He’s a great player. We tried to guard him from having a great night of shooting, yet he made some unbelievable shots. We got the win and that’s what matters.”

Spurs forward DeJuan Blair:

(On what worked tonight for him and the team)

“It was by just playing defense. We played great defense despite starting out sluggish, but we came out in the second quarter and really started playing. It was really good.”

(On whether fatigue played a major factor in turnovers in the first half)

“No, it was just through not being strong with the ball. We let the ball get away from us a couple times but we got it together in the second quarter. We played a heck of a game as we played pretty good defense in the second half.”

(On the match-up against LaMarcus Aldridge)

“LaMarcus is a tough matchup as he’s a great player. I tried to play him as good as possible and we came out with the victory. I had a lot of help as Tiago (Splitter) played him great. It was wonderful.”

Portland Trail Blazers coach Nate McMillan:

(On what happened during the stretch of the game)

“We got to play with a purpose out there. I think we were just kind of freelancing with what we do and we got to work together on both ends of the floor. Defensively, even though we got off to a pretty decent start, offensively in the first quarter we had 31 points but we gave up 27. Then offensively, we stopped recognizing what was working, which was going inside to L.A. (LaMarcus Aldridge). We got to understand how we want to play, which is from the inside-out and play out of that. I thought we went away from that.”

(On the team’s defense after Marcus Camby’s injury)

“(Marcus) Camby is basically the backbone of that defense. He kind of anchors a lot of things and you know, for us we’ve been in that kind of situation before. Kurt Thomas has to come in and play, and LaMarcus (Aldridge). We can slide him to the five but he got into foul trouble. Injuries are going to happen, so we need to be more aggressive. They out-rebounded us tonight. They don’t have any monsters in the paint. Tim (Duncan) is good and (DeJuan) Blair does a good job, but that’s not a lot of length. Rebounding is about work and we know that. We need to be a better rebounding team, so everybody has to play a part in that. I thought there were some times where we were assuming a teammate was going to get the board.”

(On the team’s effort in the game)

“We got to understand what we need to do and we got to do it. We’ve done it. I thought tonight we got a little away from what we were supposed to do. Defensively, as well as offensively, I think everyone wants to put up numbers, but we got to play within our offense and it’s not ‘first opportunity, take the shot.’ It’s not a run-and-gun system. We need to get some execution, some type of rhythm and we didn’t get that tonight.”

Portland Trail Blazers forward LaMarcus Aldridge:

(How would you describe the game?)

“It was a tough loss. We had control of both halves and then we just let it slip away. It wasn’t even their starters tonight. Their second unit came in tonight and played big for them. They put pressure on us, crashed the boards hard and they just had more energy than us tonight. We had control, we just didn’t stay solid.”

(What changed for you guys in the game tonight toward the end?)

“I think in the first quarter, I was definitely rolling so it was a little bit easier. Going into the second half, they doubled and forced me baseline so things were not as easy as it was in the first quarter. But we’ve dealt with that all year, so we have to be more solid.”

(On losing Marcus Camby)

“Definitely losing him is always tough, he’s a big time rebounder and shot blocker. He’s big for us and he’s our starting center, so losing him was tough, but Kurt came in did his job. It makes it tough for substitutions after that because you get used to having Camby, then Kurt. Then now you have to find somebody who can back up Kurt. Coach will figure it out. But, like I said, losing Camby was not our reason for losing this game. We just had control and we didn’t stay solid the whole game.

Portland Trail Blazers center, Marcus Camby:

(Feelings in general of the game)

“It was definitely frustrating. We seemed to be playing good basketball. I didn’t get to see the rest of the game today. We’re going to have to figure out how to play on the road. The schedule has been in our favor the first part because we had a lot of home games and we solidified our home court.”

(Thoughts after initial injury)

“I thought I was going to be able to just get up and walk it off or run it off. I just really can’t put a lot of weight on it now. So, I’m going to stick to the treatments and try to get out on the court as quickly as possible.”

(Any words to teammates after injury?)

“We have a lot of bigs that are going to have the opportunity to play and show what they got. Guys have been working hard at practice, so now they are going to get the opportunity. So, hopefully they can make the best of the opportunity. ”

Friday: Blazers (7-3) at Spurs (7-4)

Time: 7:30 p.m.
TV: FSNSW
Radio: WOAI-AM 1200, KCOR-AM 1350

STARTING LINEUPS

Point guard
Spurs: 9 Tony Parker (6-2, 11th yr)
Blazers: 5 Raymond Felton (6-1, 7th yr)
Parker’s past two games: 50 points, 16 assists, 81 minutes.

Shooting guard
Spurs: 2 Kawhi Leonard (6-7, 1st yr)
Blazers: 2 Wesley Matthews (6-5, 3rd yr)
After Leonard’s first career start, Pop compared him to Bowen. Hyperbole?

Small forward
Spurs: 24 Richard Jefferson (6-7, 11th yr)
Blazers: 3 Gerald Wallace (6-7, 11th yr)
In three road games, Wallace averaged 4.7 points, made 4 of 25 field goals.

Power forward
Spurs: 21 Tim Duncan (6-11, 15th yr)
Blazers: 12 LaMarcus Aldridge (6-11, 6th yr)
Aldridge has surpassed 20-point mark in six of 10 games this season.

Center
Spurs: 45 DeJuan Blair (6-7, 3rd yr)
Blazers: 23 Marcus Camby (6-11, 16th yr)
Camby second to Duncan among active players on NBA career blocks list.

SPURS RESERVES
25 James Anderson, G, 6-6, 2nd yr
15 Matt Bonner, C/F, 6-10, 8th yr
4 Danny Green, G/F, 6-6, 3rd yr
14 Gary Neal, G, 6-4, 2nd yr
5 Cory Joseph, G, 6-3, 1st yr
22 Tiago Splitter, C, 6-11, 2nd yr
23 Malcolm Thomas, F, 6-9, 1st yr

BLAZERS RESERVES
8 Luke Babbitt, F, 6-9, 2nd yr
88 Nicolas Batum, F, 6-8, 4th yr
11 Jamal Crawford, G, 6-5, 12th yr
17 Chris Johnson, C, 6-11, 2nd yr
83 Craig Smith, F, 6-7, 6th yr
4 Nolan Smith, G, 6-2, 1st yr
40 Kurt Thomas, F/C, 6-9, 17th yr
9 Eliot Williams, G, 6-5, 1st

COACHES

Spurs: Gregg Popovich
Trail Blazers: Nate McMillan

INJURIES

Spurs: Manu Ginobili (fractured fifth metacarpal, left hand) and T.J. Ford (torn left hamstring) are out.
Trail Blazers: Greg Oden (left knee) is out.

PROJECTED INACTIVE PLAYERS
Spurs: Ginobili, Ford
Trail Blazers: Oden, Armon Johnson

NOTABLE
The Blazers have owned the series of late, winning eight of their past nine vs. the Spurs. The Spurs’ lone win in that stretch was 95-78 on Dec. 12 last season at the ATT Center. … Portland is the only NBA team to win three straight season series against the Spurs. … Spurs have not scored 100 points against the Blazers since Dec. 2, 2007, a streak of 12 games. … Spurs are 7-0 at home for the first time since 2007-08, when they opened with 13 straight wins at the ATT Center.

— Jeff McDonald

Game rewind: TP’s fourth-quarter spurt ices victory

Game analysis: The Spurs’ bench came through with a pivotal performance to bail them out after early struggles. And after struggling to contain the athletic Trail Blazers in the first quarter, the Spurs limited Portland to 33.9 percent shooting during the rest of the game.

Where the game was won: After Nicolas Batum gave Portland a 67-65 lead 10 seconds into the fourth quarter, the Spurs hit Portland for 14 straight points and an 18-2 spurt that put the game away. The run was keyed by Kawhi Leonard who provided a 3-pointer and had a steal and a layup that was set up by DeJuan Blair’s rebound and long outlet pass.  By the time the run ended, the Spurs had an 83-69 lead that dropped below digits only once during the rest of the game. 

And don’t forget about this, either: Raymond Felton pulled Portland within 85-76 with 4:51 left on a jumper after earlier hitting a 3-pointer  on the previous possession. From there, Parker scored San Antonio’s next 10 points to ice the victory.

Player of the game I: Parker finished with 20 points and nine assists, mainly because of a strong fourth quarter where he scored 12 points in barely five minutes of game action.  

Player of the game II:  Tiago Splitter had one of his best career games, scoring 14 points on 5-for-5 field goal shooting, four rebounds and two assists and two blocked shots. His strong effort typified the lift the Spurs’ bench provided to the victory.

Player of the game III: The Spurs had no early answer for LaMarcus Aldridge, who started quickly with 14 points in the first quarter. The Spurs were aided as the game progressed by better defense and Aldridge’s foul trouble, which limited him to 29 points and seven rebounds. It could have been much worse.

Most unsung: Danny Green’s strong night was of the Spurs’ strong bench play. Green scored 13 points and grabbed six rebounds but more impressive was his plus-29 plus/minus score which was the best of the season for a Spurs player.

Did you notice: The Spurs committed 10 turnovers in the first quarter as Portland turned the mistakes into 15 fast break points on 7-for-7 shooting . The Spurs did a better job protecting the basketball during the rest of the game and Portland couldn’t get its running game going nearly as effectively.

Did you notice II: Spurs rookie forward Malcolm Thomas got his first NBA action during garbage time in the fourth quarter. Thomas grabbed an offensive rebound in two minutes of game action.

Stat of the game: The Spurs’ bench outscored their Portland counterparts, 45-17. The edge was 27-2 in the first half.

Stat of the game II: Parker produced 20 points and nine assists. Before Manu Ginobili’s injury, Parker was averaging 13.8 points and 6.5 assists per game. In the games since Ginobili was placed on the injured list, Parker is averaging 17.9 points and 8.0 assists. And in his last three games, he’s averaging 23.3 points per game with three  consecutive 20-point games for the first time since the final three games of the playoffs against Memphis last season.

Stat of the game III: With Marcus Camby out and Aldridge battling foul trouble, the Spurs were able to outrebound Portland, 50-36. The 14-board difference was only the third time since 1986 that the Spurs have outrebounded Portland by 14 rebounds or more. It was San Antonio’s largest rebounding margin against the Trail Blazers since they had a 27-rebound margin in a 106-75 blowout on Jan. 4, 2006.

Weird stat of the game: Maybe it was a weird Friday the 13th mojo at work. Or maybe Camby might be developing triskaidekaphobia, which is the fear of the number 13. Camby played 13 minutes, 13 seconds before his ankle injury Friday that idled him for the rest of the game.

Quote of the game: “We made easy buckets and we had great defense. If we play like this every night, it’s going to be tough to beat the Spurs,” Splitter, on the lift provided by the Spurs’ bench.

How the schedule stacks up: The Spurs will have one more game during their brief homestand, Phoenix on Sunday night before a back-to-back road trip with games at Miami on Tuesday and Orlando on Wednesday. The Trail Blazers began a six-game road trip that will continue with a back-to-back Saturday in Houston and upcoming games Monday at New Orleans and Wednesday at Atlanta. 

Injuries: Ginobili missed his seventh game after undergoing surgery for a fractured fifth left metacarpal.  Ford missed his second game with a torn left hamstring sustained Tuesday night in Milwaukee. Portland center Greg Oden remains out with a left knee injury. And Camby was idled late in the second quarter with a left ankle sprain and did not  return after failing to score and grabbing three rebounds.