San Antonio @ Portland preview

Last Meeting ( Apr 7, 2018 ) Portland 105, San Antonio 116

The Portland Trail Blazers managed to push aside the LeBron-to-LA hype and dispatch the Lakers in their season opener on Thursday, reminding fans that they remain a solid playoff contender in the Western Conference. The Trail Blazers will try to make it back-to-back wins when they host the San Antonio Spurs on Saturday.

Portland finished with the third-best record in the West (49-33) last season and brought back its two most important players - guards Damian Lillard and CJ McCollum - while tinkering around the edges of the roster and came away pleased with the first performance of 2018-19. "It’s good to get another opening night win," Trail Blazers coach Terry Stotts told reporters. "Our bench was terrific. We withstood the kind of onslaught at the beginning of the game and I thought we played really good offensive basketball the rest of the night." The Spurs are coming off a win as well after a successful San Antonio debut from All-Star guard DeMar DeRozan, who scored 28 points in a 112-108 victory over the Minnesota Timberwolves. "He's a quick study," Spurs coach Gregg Popovich told reporters of DeRozan. "He's a confident player. He's an All-Star. He showed it. The game comes easy to him."

TV: 10 p.m. ET, FS Southwest (San Antonio), NBCS Northwest (Portland)

ABOUT THE SPURS (1-0): Popovich also described DeRozan as a willing passer after he handed out four assists on Thursday, and San Antonio needs all the passing it can find with the injuries that knocked guards Dejounte Murray (knee), Derrick White (heel) and Lonnie Walker IV (knee) out during training camp. Center Pau Gasol handed out a team-high six assists in 23 minutes off the bench during the opener and the team collected 22 on 40 made field goals. Shooting guard Bryn Forbes is starting alongside DeRozan in the backcourt while veteran point guard Patty Mills comes off the bench.

ABOUT THE TRAIL BLAZERS (1-0): One of the pieces Portland added to the roster was well-traveled shooting guard Nik Stauskas, a former first-round pick of the Sacramento Kings in 2014 who is playing for his fourth team. Stauskas logged 27 minutes off the bench on Thursday and scored 24 points while going 7-of-11 from the floor and 5-of-8 from beyond the arc. "I think in that first half just most of my shots felt great," Stauskas told reporters. "(Center) Meyers (Leonard) got me open on two good looks in that first quarter. As a shooter, you get two good looks to go down, things kind of start opening up after that, so I just tried to be aggressive and my teammates did a good job of finding me."

BUZZER BEATERS

1. Trail Blazers PF Al-Farouq Aminu went 1-of-10 from the floor on Thursday, including 0-of-6 from 3-point range.

2. Spurs PF LaMarcus Aldridge collected 21 points, 19 rebounds and three blocks in the season opener.

3. San Antonio took two of the three meetings last season, including a 93-91 triumph at Portland on Dec. 20.

PREDICTION: Spurs 109, Trail Blazers 106