“There weren’t going to be any surprises in this game on one side or the other,” Wembanyama said after his 10-block game.
SAN ANTONIO — The San Antonio Spurs beat the Portland Trail Blazers 114-94 at home Saturday. They are now 3-0 against the Blazers this regular season.
Victor Wembanyama led the team with 30 points, seven rebounds and 10 blocks. Harrison Barnes had nine points and three rebounds, and Chris Paul had six and nine assists.
Jeremy Sochan added 10 points, Devin Vassell recorded 11, Charles Bassey had 16 and 12 rebounds and Julian Champagnie finished with seven and three rebounds.
Head coach Gregg Popovich was also out due to illness. Assistant coach Mitch Johnson assumed head coaching duties for the game.
The Spurs are 15-13 this season and will visit the Philadelphia 76ers on Monday night.
Here’s a sample of what the teams said after the game.
Mitch Johnson:
“I think he’s (Wembanyama) been more forceful. He’s been a little bit more patient when he catches the ball, especially when he’s not being guarded by the traditional five-man size. I think he’s done a good job of just facing up and seeing when he has that one-on-one space to continue to push through that initial contact.”
“We went with our game plan. Guys win a lot of shifts when the defensemen get beat. There’s a guy that’s helping and the help is helping the other guy. We plan together. We went to the game thinking about defense.”
Wembanyama:
“We’ve played them (Blazers) very regularly. There weren’t going to be any surprises in this game on one side or the other. So we knew that on offense for us, the answer would not be to play one one-on-one like we like we used to. So moving the ball was really important, and I think we did a good job at it from the first minute.”
Chauncey Billups