Teams Fighting For Playoff Position Meet Saturday In San Antonio

Both the Trail Blazers and Spurs have found it difficult in the last week to secure wins they desperate need in order to secure their respective positions in the Western Conference playoff race. That will change for one of those teams Saturday night. With four games left to play and the Western Conference playoff standings still very much in flux, the Trail Blazers and Spurs face off at the AT&T Center in San Antonio for a tilt that could go a long way toward locking in playoff goals for the winner. Tipoff is scheduled for 6 p.m. While the Trail Blazers are one of just three teams that have clinched a playoff spot in the West with a week left in the regular season, they have yet to secure homecourt advantage in the first round. They need just one win to clinch homecourt and two wins to lock in the three seed, but have gone 0-2 to start their current four-game road trip. After starting the trip by losing to the Dallas Mavericks in a game Trail Blazers head coach Terry Stotts aptly described as a “bad loss,” Portland fell 96-94 to the Houston Rockets on Thursday in a game that wasn’t close until the bench went on a 17-0 run to tie the game with six seconds to play.After Portland trailed by as many as 24 points playing their regular rotation, the likes of Pat Connaughton, Jake Layman, Caleb Swanigan and Wade Baldwin IV, whose defense on James Harden was integral to the comeback, put a scare into a Rockets team with the best record in the NBA, but a tough Chris Paul layup with 0.8 seconds to play saved Houston from what would have been an embarrassing loss. “I was really pleased with the way we finished the game,” said Trail Blazers head coach Terry Stotts. ‘Those guys at the end just worked their asses off, played hard, were aggressive defensively. It was really impressive, was too bad we couldn’t go to overtime or win it. But really proud of the way they played.”With Damian Lillard sitting out Thursday’s game with a left ankle sprain, Baldwin IV, who spent the majority of the season in the G-League on a two-way contract, played 32 minutes and finished with 14 points on 6-of-10 shooting, three assists, two steals and a block. “Just playing hard, everybody stepped up, it’s a big game, best team in the league,” said Baldwin IV. “It’s important for us to play hard every possession and I think we showed that today. Unfortunately we didn’t close it out, get the last stop, but I was proud of everybody, they was playing their hearts out.”As for the Spurs, they’ve also found themselves on wrong end of close losses in their last two games. They started a Los Angeles back-to-back by falling 113-110 to the Clippers despite leading by as many as 19 in the first half and then followed that up dropping a 122-112 game to the Lakers in overtime on Wednesday.The losses dropped San Antonio to 43-34, where they are tied with the Pelicans and Thunder and are just a half game up on the Timberwolves and Nuggets. One of those aforementioned teams will miss the postseason, so the Spurs will have plenty of motivation playing at home, where they have lost just eight times this season, Saturday night. After missing Thursday’s loss to Houston, Damian Lillard (left ankle) is listed as probable for Saturday’s contest. Ed Davis (left knee) and Moe Harkless (right ankle) are out, as is Kawhi Leonard (return from injury management) for the Spurs. Saturday night’s game can be seen locally on NBC Sports Northwest with Kevin Calabro, Lamar Hurd and Brooke Olzendam. The game will also stream live on Blazers Pass. Scott Lynn will have the call on Rip City Radio 620 AM.