Trail Blazers welcome back Shaedon Sharpe in loss at Spurs

The Portland Trail Blazers failed to take advantage of the return of Shaedon Sharpe Thursday night at the San Antonio Spurs and lost 118-105.

Sharpe came off the bench to score 13 points, but his presence was not enough for the Blazers to overcome a poor three-point shooting night and the Spurs' balanced scoring.

Portland shot 47.7% from the field but hit just 9 of 32 on three-point attempts (28.1%).

"I just felt like we were kind of chasing our tails the whole game," Blazers coach Chauncey Billups told reporters. "I really did. We never really got ourselves in a rhythm."

Deandre Ayton and Jerami Grant each scored 21 points to lead the Blazers, who also received 19 points and seven assists from Anfernee Simons.

Nobody on the Spurs reached the 20-point mark. However, eight of the 10 players who saw minutes before mass substitutions took place with under 30 seconds remaining, scored in double figures.

Guards Keldon Johnson and Malaki Branham each scored 17 points. Center Victor Wembenhama added 12 points, eight rebounds, four steals and three blocked shots.

San Antonio's bench scored 61 points compared to 31 for the Blazers.

"Their bench was just incredible," Billups said.

The Spurs shot 16 of 29 from three-point range (41.0%) and 44 of 82 from the field (53.7%) while producing 35 assists.

WHAT IT MEANS

The Blazers (3-6) blew an opportunity to pick up a victory before facing Minnesota in three of their next four games with Memphis in the middle.

The Spurs (4-5) were without coach Gregg Popovich, who suffered a health scare on Saturday.

SHARPE RETURNS

Sharpe, in his first action of the season after being out with a shoulder injury, shot 6 of 9 from the field to reach 13 points and also had two rebounds and an assist in just more than 20 of action.

"I thought Shaedon played really well," Billups said. "He looked very comfortable."

BANTON STRUGGLES

Blazers guard/forward Dalano Banton played before the fourth quarter and things didn't go well.

Banton played in only the fourth quarter during the Blazers' previous two games at Phoenix and New Orleans, and produced 32 points on 13-of-16 shooting (81.3%) in just under 24 minutes.

At the Spurs, Banton first entered the game in the first quarter, played 16 minutes and 20 seconds, but scored only four points on 1-of-8 shooting.

NEXT UP

The Blazers end their road trip with a 6 p.m. game Friday at the Minnesota Timberwolves (5-3).

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