PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — Jerami Grant and Malcolm Brogdon each scored 27 points and the Portland Trail Blazers took advantage of San Antonio rookie star Victor Wembanyama’s absence to beat the Spurs 134-128 on Friday night for a split in the two-game set.
Wembanyama rested on the second night of a back-to-back after the rookie rolled an ankle earlier this month. He had 30 points Thursday night in San Antonio’s 118-105 victory.
Brogdon also had seven assists. Jabari Walker scored a career-high 25 points, and rookie Scoot Henderson added 21 points, 11 assists and seven rebounds.
“That was probably his best game so far,” Portland coach Chauncey Billups said about Henderson.
Henderson wowed the crowd with a wrap-around assist in the second quarter to Matisse Thybulle.
“Oh man, I didn’t know what that was,” Walker said about Henderson’s eye-popping pass. “He’s got some stuff.”
Keldon Johnson scored 27 points for San Antonio.
“I thought we played horrendously, getting down by 26,” Spurs coach Gregg Popovich said. “They made shots, we didn’t make them, that’s the NBA. But their physicality, I thought, was great. Chauncey had them ready. They didn’t want to have a night like last night.”
The Spurs cut it to five in the final seconds. Portland was 16 of 27 from 3-point range, while San Antonio was 14 of 33.
In the first half, Grant scored 20 points and Henderson had 11 points and seven assists to help Portland take a 71-56 lead. Portland scored 14 points off 11 turnovers in the half. San Antonio cut it to 104-94 heading into the fourth.
The Trail Blazers were once again without key players as well, missing leading scorer Anfernee Simons for the second straight game because of an illness.
UP NEXT
Spurs: Host Boston on Sunday night.
Trail Blazers: At Phoenix on Monday night.
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AP NBA: https://apnews.com/hub/nba
Erik Garcia Gundersen, The Associated Press
