Game Thread Playoffs Round 1, Game 2: Spurs vs Blazers (1-0) (Tue 04/21/2026) [7:00 CDT]

[cediskace]

we were terrible in clutch time. and it's not like Portland was very good either, we had tons of occasions, second chances and no one seemed able to buy a bucket. not a good sign but hey, it's just a game. jokic and murray, two proven clutch players and winners, were terrible too in the money time in their loss against the wolves.

we'll see if t's just one game or a true tendancy with our team right now....

 

[spursistan]

Reading the concussion protocol and knowing how overly cautious our medical team is, along with parsing through those post-game quotes from Mitch and the players, i would be shocked if Wemby even travels to Portland. It seems like they are prepared for him to miss at least the next two games even at the cost of going down 1-3 in the series..

Definitely a moment of truth for this lot. If they can't get a split on the road from one of the least pedigreed playoffs teams, maybe they were fugazi all along.

 

[BatManu20]

Almost feel bad posting it but this pic is gnarly.

 

[100%Duncan]

Almost feel bad posting it but this pic is gnarly.

Im so pissed bro. Fucking hell.

 

[LeBowen]

 

[siraulo22]

fk me, game 2 couldnt have gone worse

why, basketball gods

 

[siraulo22]

Scoot really playing like a superstar, dafaq

Blazers other role players gonna play better in Portland so even if Scoot comes back to earth it wont be easy

If Wemby is really gonna miss a few games, someone needs to step up big time or they gonna be down 1-3 going back to SA

 

[PhantomDashCam]

Sigh…
Hopefully people realise this is one game, a game in which we didn’t play well and yet almost eeked it out.
I’ll back our three Backcourt Gs to come back strong.

Does anyone remember the nightmare of a first round in ‘14 against Dallas? They got it done in 7 and it seemed to turbocharge them the rest of the way.

This team hasn’t lost back to back games since January.

 

[Aggie Hoopsfan]

I mean, they did miss some wide open looks, airballing them even. But it was Castle’s beyond reckless play that were some of the real backbreakers.

You can't call castle reckless when Mitch kept calling the same retarded iso ball play time after time. We should have been putting them in high pick and roll after high pick and roll but Mitch is a dipshit without Wemby out there to save him.

We are in trouble.

 

[Amuseddaysleeper]

Sigh…
Hopefully people realise this is one game, a game in which we didn’t play well and yet almost eeked it out.
I’ll back our three Backcourt Gs to come back strong.

Does anyone remember the nightmare of a first round in ‘14 against Dallas? They got it done in 7 and it seemed to turbocharge them the rest of the way.

This team hasn’t lost back to back games since January.

Tim Duncan didn’t have a concussion against Dallas and this team isn’t a championship core.

If we don’t at least get a split in Portland it’ll be over

 

[kxs783]

Sigh…
Hopefully people realise this is one game, a game in which we didn’t play well and yet almost eeked it out.
I’ll back our three Backcourt Gs to come back strong.

Does anyone remember the nightmare of a first round in ‘14 against Dallas? They got it done in 7 and it seemed to turbocharge them the rest of the way.

This team hasn’t lost back to back games since January.

Only difference is that '14 team had players that had plenty of playoff experience under their belt. This is a much different squad, who's leader will be out, going back to the to the opponents homecourt with no clear #1 option. Doable, yes! Just much, much tougher situation.

 

[Unseen]

Way to much ISO plays , ISO is so easy for a playoff cranked defense to defend

 

[Arcadian]

I don't think I've ever seen a basketball player get KO'd by falling and landing on their jaw before. Is this a completely unique injury in basketball history?

 

[heyheymymy]

The game was a nightmare. Gotta tip your cap to Scoot, what an incredible performance. You could see in his body language he was determined. Clingan was a beast and Time Lord was also great for Portland. The away stand is going to be a gauntlet. West coast travel and one is a 2:30 day game. It will be a solid pressure test for our team and I have a lot of confidence they will bounce back.

 

[Aggie Hoopsfan]

Worse part of pop he inherited, he benched fox midway in the 3rd after he hit 3 shots in a row

And second in a row where Devin gets on a heater and we just go away from him.

It's like someone gets hot and the Mitch way is to use them as a decoy on O instead of riding them being unguardable until they aren't.

 

[Ni-G]

we were terrible in clutch time. and it's not like Portland vwere very good, we had tons of occasions, second chances and no one seemed able to buy a bucket. not a good sign but hey, it's just a game. jokic and murray, two proven clutch players and winners, were terrible too in the miney time in their loss against the wolves.

we'll see if t's just one game or a true tendancie with our team right now....

We were terrible because all the plays our COTY could draw were hero ball ISOs. No ball movement, no set up plays in the last 8 minutes. Lets hope he can improve while learning on a job without wasting next 2-3 years of our Aliens career (which lets face it, may not be as long as we all hope for).

 

[RC_Drunkford]

 

[RC_Drunkford]

the officiating has been terrible in these 2 games. The double dribble call on Harper, the jumpball call, the foul on Devin where Fox got the putback, the Camara flops, the hacking of Steph Castle, the Avdija flop's and so on. It's hard for our guys to play with physicality when the Blazers get every call and we get hacked on every lay up attempt.

 

[Aggie Hoopsfan]

I can't believe people are bitching about third string center when we missed eight free throws, Mitch tried to spike the clock for the last five minutes with stupid ass iso ball, and Fox and KJ turtled on us.

If Castle is banged up then we shouldn't be running the O through him. Simple as that. If he is they have to take some pressure off the point of attack with screens instead of leaving him on an island and saying good luck.

It's stupid but what I'd expect from a Pop sycophant coached team.

 

[brazil]

Portland is a mediocre team but Tiago is doing a good job getting the best out of it.

Spurs with or without Victor are favorite to win this serie. If Spurs are real contenders they must find a way.

 

[BSfromTX]

And second in a row where Devin gets on a heater and we just go away from him.

It's like someone gets hot and the Mitch way is to use them as a decoy on O instead of riding them being unguardable until they aren't.

Devin lost confidence after a miss around 2 min mark. He needed to stay assertive, because that ball was a hot potato in the last 2 min.. Our youth and inexperience caught up with us in this game. Fox was being swarmed, and Castle was not confident in his shot (air balled a 12 footer), so Devin was our best hope. It seemed like everyone deferred and only Fox was willing to try and make something happen.

This was a great learning experience. As much as it sucks, we had some significant injuries/set backs but still could have won. Had Wemby been out there in that last two minutes, the rest of the team would have just put it all on him and never would have experienced that kind of pressure.

 

[LeBowen]

I can't believe people are bitching about third string center when we missed eight free throws, Mitch tried to spike the clock for the last five minutes with stupid ass iso ball, and Fox and KJ turtled on us.

But it's not really comparable, is it?
Shooting, decision making and coaching flaws can happen on game to game basis, not having a playable third string big is a fact we can't change anymore.
It's a huge mistake by the front office.
CB played good defense last night and was still -13 in 12 minutes because he can't contain Timelord or Clingan.

Even if both Wemby and Kornet are healthy, foul trouble can happen or maybe Kornet gets outmatched, it's unserious to not have another reliable big considering how much cap space Olynyk is taking and how many SRPs we have.

 

[Ice009]

Sigh…
Hopefully people realise this is one game, a game in which we didn’t play well and yet almost eeked it out.
I’ll back our three Backcourt Gs to come back strong.

Does anyone remember the nightmare of a first round in ‘14 against Dallas? They got it done in 7 and it seemed to turbocharge them the rest of the way.

This team hasn’t lost back to back games since January.

Is anyone actually taking into account Victor is not likely to play games 3 & 4 at least? Do you really expect this team without Victor to perform like the 2014 Spurs that had a full roster in that Dallas series? Geez, there is a high probability that the Spurs come back to SA down 3-1. If Victor was playing I'd have a ton of confidence, but also, if Victor was playing, Spurs would be 2-0. I was expecting to come back to SA either up 3-1 or 2-2 with Victor playing due to this being the team's first playoffs. I thought the Blazers would likely win one game in Portland and maybe two. I thought the Spurs would have a tough series this being their first playoff series. Without Victor, we're in deep trouble. The team is going to have to play a flawless game to get a win in Portland.

Only difference is that '14 team had players that had plenty of playoff experience under their belt. This is a much different squad, who's leader will be out, going back to the to the opponents homecourt with no clear #1 option. Doable, yes! Just much, much tougher situation.

Exactly. How are people overlooking this? There is absolutely no comparison to be made with past Spurs teams.

I'm not giving up, but things are not looking good and this is no way comparable to any of those old Spurs teams. We don't know yet if any of these guys are even playoff performers.
The Spurs went through a lot of great regular reason teams that ended up being pretenders in the playoffs. We don't know if this team is one of those or not. How are people able to say it's no big deal?

I just don't understand how people are comparing this to TD, Manu, TP, Kawhi led teams that got down in series and were able to come back. There is likely no Victor for games 3 & 4, so how is anyone confident they're not in big trouble?

And what about the coaching. There was some fans on ST that wanted the Spurs to get Tiago as the team's head coach. Spurs may have picked the wrong guy. Mitch seems in over his head. Most of the season he hasn't drawn up plays out of timeouts or to get easy buckets for someone during the game. Does he even have any scripted with the team, or is he just letting the guys and Victor improvise?

 

[SpurSpike]

I think I heard the loudest "refs you suck" chants iv ever heard at a game. Happened 3 times too, whole arena was chanting it lol.

 

[Ice009]

We were terrible because all the plays our COTY could draw were hero ball ISOs. No ball movement, no set up plays in the last 8 minutes. Lets hope he can improve while learning on a job without wasting next 2-3 years of our Aliens career (which lets face it, may not be as long as we all hope for).

100%. I like Tiago's offense much better than Mitch's. Tiago did an amazing job with that team in Europe. No idea why the Spurs didn't actually hold interviews with other coaches. Sweeney and Tiago are two guys that should have at least gotten an interview at least for the HC gig before simply handing it over to Mitch.

But it's not really comparable, is it?
Shooting, decision making and coaching flaws can happen on game to game basis, not having a playable third string big is a fact we can't change anymore.
It's a huge mistake by the front office.
CB played good defense last night and was still -13 in 12 minutes because he can't contain Timelord or Clingan.

Even if both Wemby and Kornet are healthy, foul trouble can happen or maybe Kornet gets outmatched, it's unserious to not have another reliable big considering how much cap space Olynyk is taking and how many SRPs we have.

Another great post. I don't understand why people aren't seeing this, or didn't see this coming months ago. Some of us spoke up about it quite a while back. Still got people up to now even trying to say it's not a big difference maker. Wrong.