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📍PORTLAND, Ore. — Every game in the playoffs is arguably a must-win, but the Trail Blazers really needed to get this one.
Whatever souvenir ended up being on the chairs, the Moda Center crowd showed up in a big way for their first full-capacity home playoff game in seven years, and the Spurs ruled Victor Wembanyama out, still not quite clear of the concussion protocol. It was all set up.
And for the first two-and-a-half quarters, the Blazers looked set to capitalize and go up 2-1 and give themselves a serious shot at a seventh-seed upset in the first round.
It all unraveled over the final few minutes of the third quarter as the Spurs went on an 18-3 run to close out the period up by one after trailing by six at half. In that stretch, Portland missed six straight shots, were outrebounded 7-2 and put San Antonio on the foul line seven times.
They also saw Dylan Harper, this year's No. 2 overall pick who much like most of these Blazers is getting his first taste of the playoffs, come alive. His takeover was similar to the one Scoot Henderson had in Game 2 on Tuesday. He scored 22 of his 25 points in the second half and hit big shot after big shot to help the Spurs put the Blazers away.
And it was Henderson, who was otherwise excellent again with 22 points and five three-pointers, that helped wake him up.
Henderson exploded to the basket for a layup with 33 seconds left in the third quarter, the first made basket the Blazers had in four minutes, and gave Harper some trash talk. Whatever he said was enough to get a technical foul. At the third quarter buzzer, Harper blocked Henderson's floater attempt, and then scored 10 points in the fourth quarter to help keep a Blazers comeback out of reach.
Big scoring nights from Henderson and Jrue Holiday (29 points) weren't enough to overcome Harper's second-half outburst and an awful shooting night from Deni Avdija (3-for-15 from the field), who looked once again like he was playing through some ailments. Early foul trouble took Donovan Clingan out of the game, and the speed of San Antonio's smallball lineups rendered him ineffective. Shaedon Sharpe was a non-factor in 13 minutes.
"Losses like these piss you off," Robert Williams III said afterwards. "These are the losses you lose sleep over."
Williams pointed to the Blazers' lack of composure down the stretch of this one. He said, not for the first time this season, that they resorted to complaining to the referees too much. He said they let the Spurs' physicality get to them.
In other words, they did everything they didn't do in the first two games.
"We have another game on Sunday," Holiday said helpfully.
One problem: there's a good chance Wembanyama will be back on the other side by then. The newly crowned Defensive Player of the Year was sitting on the Spurs' bench during the game, which should tell you a lot about how close he is to being cleared from the NBA's concussion protocol.
Beating the Spurs for a second time without him would have given Portland a little breathing room with the prospect of an MVP finalist returning to the lineup for their opponent. Now that they blew Game 3, the Spurs have home-court advantage back, and it's going to be an uphill battle for Portland to extend the series, let alone win it.
For the first 30 minutes on Friday, the Blazers had Moda Center feeling like it did 12 years ago, complete with a LaMarcus Aldridge cameo and tribute video.
After that, what was an electric atmosphere slowly deflated as the miscues compounded. Now, the Blazers find themselves on their back foot as Game 4 approaches.
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