Coming off a heartbreaking Recreation 2 loss this previous Tuesday, the Spurs traveled to Portland to tackle the Path Blazers for Recreation 3. Victor Wembanyama was dominated out because of concussion protocol. After a back-and-forth first half, the Spurs discovered themselves down by six going into the third quarter. The Blazers seemed to be in management and constructed a 17-point lead. Nevertheless, Dylan Harper helped kickstart a 21-5 run to finish the quarter, solely down by one. Within the fourth, Harper and Stephon Fortress took over. Behind key stops from Carter Bryant and others, the Spurs started placing the strain on Portland. Fortress and Harper every traded buckets each time the Blazers did not capitalize on offense. They had been each merely unguardable. To shut the sport, Devin Vassell, Luke Kornet, and De’Aaron Fox sprinkled the ending touches on a 120-108 victory to go up 2-1 within the collection.
Stephon Fortress led the best way with 33 factors (10-18 FG, 3-4 3PT, 10-11 FT), 5 assists, two rebounds, and a steal. Steph delivered one of many quieter 30+ level playoff video games of all time. 19 of his 33 got here within the first half, and he complemented Dylan’s scoring within the second half. He was environment friendly from the sphere, from three-point land, and from the free-throw line. Steph continues to slash his manner irrespective of who steps in entrance of him, and he’s not afraid to aim robust contested midrange jumpers. A efficiency like it is a nice signal for the Spurs for not just for this collection, however for the foreseeable future.
ALLEY-LUKE! Steph fights his manner into the paint and finds a reducing Luke on the lob connection!
CASH. Steph knocks down his first of three three-pointers within the recreation!
Flying to the cup! After the CB block, Steph takes the go from Keldon Johnson and sprints up the ground for the end between two Blazers!
TOUGH BUCKET. Steph will get fouled whereas capturing a midrange jumper, and it swishes by way of the online for the and-one!
DAGGER! Steph finds Luke for an additional alley-oop late within the fourth!
Dylan Harper dropped 27 factors (9-12 FG, 4-5 3PT, 5-6 FT), 10 rebounds, three assists, a steal, and a block. Listed here are a couple of information that Dylan broke along with his efficiency: Dylan (age 20) is the second-youngest participant to attain 20+ factors off the bench in a playoff recreation (youngest – Kobe Bryant, age 18). He’s additionally the youngest participant in NBA historical past to attain 25+ factors in a playoff recreation. Dylan was having himself a good recreation till the third quarter, when a change flipped. After Scoot Henderson scored on Dylan, Henderson talked trash to Dylan, which resulted in a technical foul. Dylan took that vitality and fueled his crew. He exploded within the fourth quarter and emerged because the younger star this crew drafted him to be. He was uber-efficient from the sphere with a real capturing share of 92%. Whereas Spurs followers are enthusiastic about Steph, they need to be much more enthusiastic about Dylan’s potential.
Easy as silk. Dyl spins off of Jerami Grant and finishes with a scoop layup!
Don’t soar! Dyl fakes out Donovan Clingan with a pump pretend and drives in with a layup by switching his palms in midair!
HARP3R! Dyl drains his fourth three by catching the go from Fox within the nook whereas in entrance of the Blazers’ bench!
UNGUARDABLE! Dyl leads the cost by spinning off of Jrue Vacation and ending off glass in entrance of Henderson!
POSTER ALERT! Dyl drives previous Henderson and yams throughout Robert Williams III!
Bonus spotlight: Luke drained his first three of the season on the finish of the primary quarter! Luke completed with a double-double: 14 factors and 10 rebounds to go together with two assists and two blocks.
All in all, this was a hard-fought and gutty victory for the Spurs. Fox pitched in 18, Dev pitched in 11, Julian pitched in 9, and CB made hustle performs on each ends with three blocks. The emergence of each Steph and Dylan powered this crew to a victory, and the collection outlook has shifted to a much less aggravating time for Spurs followers. Wemby will probably be questionable for Sunday, however even when he doesn’t play, search for the younger guards to proceed placing the remainder of the playoff area on discover. Oh, but when Wemby performs, the outlook turns into even much less aggravating for the silver and black.
Lastly, listed below are the total recreation highlights.
Recreation 4 is that this Sunday at 2:30 P.M. (CST) on ESPN.
