Brandon Roy tallied a game-high 24 points, and Greg Oden held his own against Tim Duncan, as Portland led wire-to-wire in a 96-84 victory over San Antonio.
Oden recorded 14 points, eight rebounds and four blocks for the Trail Blazers, who have split their first six games of the season. Steve Blake ended with 15 points, while Andre Miller chipped in 10.
"It's a good win for us," Blazers head coach Nate McMillan said. "We're trying to find our rhythm. Tonight I felt like we had a good rhythm. The offensive execution, the movement, was better. We got the tempo we wanted."
Richard Jefferson paced San Antonio with 19 points, while Manu Ginobili added 17 in the club's second straight loss. Duncan logged 14 points and eight boards for the Spurs, who were without Tony Parker for the second half due to an ankle injury.
San Antonio trailed the entire game but scored eight straight midway through the fourth to pull within a possession, 75-72, with 5 1/2 minutes left.
Roy hit a jumper and a free throw to extend the margin, and Oden challenged a Duncan miss before hitting a bucket at the other end.
Roger Mason cooled the spurt with a three-pointer, and Jefferson hit a shot while being fouled with 2:55 remaining. Jefferson missed the free throw, however, and Blake drained a three at the other end.
The Spurs got as close as five, 87-82, after Ginobili's three-point play with 1:47 to play. But Travis Outlaw hit a big shot at the left elbow as the shot clock was winding down, and the Blazers sealed it at the foul line after Mason missed a pair of three-point attempts.
Portland scored the game's first eight points and ended the opening quarter on a 13-2 run to jump out to a 29-14 cushion.
The Spurs cut it to 51-40 at halftime and scored nine of the last 11 points in the third to trail 68-58 with 12 minutes to play.
"It took us 24 minutes to start competing," Ginobili said. "We can't allow ourselves to make those mistakes. We start too soft and we're always behind the curve."
Game Notes
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