San Antonio, intent on sharing the ball better on offense, rode a decided advantage in assists and paint points to surge to a 16 point lead early in the second half. However Portland mounted a comeback late in the fourth period and snuck out with the close victory. The Spurs fell one game behind Golden State and kept itself two games ahead of New Orleans in the Western Conference playoff hunt.
San Antonio was paced by stellar efforts from DeMar DeRozan (26 points and 10 assists), a triple-double by Dejounte Murray (13 points, 11 rebounds, and 10 assists) and Jakob Poeltl (17 points and 8 rebounds).