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Gym Ball at its Finest! Spurs Win Shows Blazers’ Bench Can Play!

By Spencer Gordon

Apr 10, 2017; Portland, OR, USA; Portland Trail Blazers guard Shabazz Napier (6) drives to the basket between San Antonio Spurs forward David Lee (10) and center Pau Gasol (16) during the second half of the game at Moda Center. The Blazers won 99-98. Mandatory Credit: Steve Dykes-USA TODAY Sports
Apr 10, 2017; Portland, OR, USA; Portland Trail Blazers guard Shabazz Napier (6) drives to the basket between San Antonio Spurs forward David Lee (10) and center Pau Gasol (16) during the second half of the game at Moda Center. The Blazers won 99-98. Mandatory Credit: Steve Dykes-USA TODAY Sports /
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Apr 10, 2017; Portland, OR, USA; Portland Trail Blazers guard Shabazz Napier (6) celebrates with teammates after hitting the game winning basket against the San Antonio Spurs at Moda Center. The Blazers won 99-98. Mandatory Credit: Steve Dykes-USA TODAY Sports
Apr 10, 2017; Portland, OR, USA; Portland Trail Blazers guard Shabazz Napier (6) celebrates with teammates after hitting the game winning basket against the San Antonio Spurs at Moda Center. The Blazers won 99-98. Mandatory Credit: Steve Dykes-USA TODAY Sports /

The Blazers didn’t have their four top scorers, however a career night from Shabazz Napier as well as a Noah Vonleh buzzer beater helped cap a fun win over the Spurs 99-98.

In a game that saw the bench warmers shine, the Blazers squeaked out a surprising victory. A late game winning lay-up from Vonleh in the closing seconds could only have Coach Greg Poppavich laugh in a game that doesn’t mean anything.

However, the game meant a lot more for the Blazers’ bench then anything.

Sure, our stars are obviously Damian Lillard, C.J. McCollum and Jusuf Nurkic. But the main knack against Portland is that the rest of the team can’t pull their weight. That too much pressure is put on our stars to perform in order for the team to succeed.

When you take a look at this game, the Spurs sure didn’t play 100%. The stars played just about 20 mins each when they normally lean more towards 30-35 minutes each. And yet, our bench came to play and gave some solid minutes on their way to the victory.

Apr 10, 2017; Portland, OR, USA; Portland Trail Blazers guard Shabazz Napier (6) drives to the basket between San Antonio Spurs forward David Lee (10) and center Pau Gasol (16) during the second half of the game at Moda Center. The Blazers won 99-98. Mandatory Credit: Steve Dykes-USA TODAY Sports
Apr 10, 2017; Portland, OR, USA; Portland Trail Blazers guard Shabazz Napier (6) drives to the basket between San Antonio Spurs forward David Lee (10) and center Pau Gasol (16) during the second half of the game at Moda Center. The Blazers won 99-98. Mandatory Credit: Steve Dykes-USA TODAY Sports /

Napier was the star, getting 36 minutes to playing time is a lot more than normal and he took advantage of it. He scored a career high 32 points on 9/20 shooting.

Meyers Leonard hit all of his three pointers, which let’s out a sigh of relief from Rip City as we all remember that he can actually do that. However, if it wasn’t for Napiers’ quick thinking on the final Vonleh lay-up, the replay clearly shows that Leonard got in the way of his drive and was the one that knocked the ball away.

As the Blazers continue in rest mode, it’s nice to see that the bench is getting some last minute workouts as they prepare for the playoffs. Portland will need all of them to put in solid minutes if they want any chance against Golden State.

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