Portland Trail Blazers forward Deni Avdija’s throw fell harmlessly out of the backcourt as time expired, allowing the San Antonio Spurs to leave the Moda Center with a 118-116 victory on Friday night.

The final shot came when the Blazers gained possession with 2.4 seconds left after Spurs center Victor Wembanyama made two free throws to give his team the lead.

At that moment, the score ended in a heated back-and-forth in the final minutes of the game.

“I thought we were careless as a group,” Blazers coach Chauncey Billups said.

A game the Blazers appeared to have won after scoring 46 points in the third quarter, which led to them building a 17-point lead in the fourth quarter.

But everything fell apart in the final eight minutes of the game as the Spurs outscored the Blazers 30-11.

Jerami Grant led the Blazers with 32 points on 12 of 19 shooting, making 8 of 10 three-pointers.

Anfernee Simons scored 30 points with seven assists. Deni Avdija came off the bench and scored 19 and four assists.

The Blazers shot 79.2% in the third quarter, going 8 of 10 from three-point range. The Blazers won the quarter 46:28.

Of her 19 field goal attempts, 13 came with assists. Grant scored 22 points in the quarter on 8 of 10 shooting, including 6 of 7 from long range.

“Jerami caught fire,” Billups said.

The Spurs played a remarkable first quarter, shooting 72.2 from the field and going 5 of 6 from three-point range to take a 33-25 lead.

Leading the way was point guard Chris Paul, who scored five points with four assists and three rebounds in 11 minutes. But Paul was kicked out for talking a little too much to an officer after a phone call.

Without Paul, the Spurs played significantly worse in the second quarter and only scored 19 points. But the Blazers couldn’t take advantage and only scored 17 points with six turnovers.

San Antonio led 52-42 at halftime.

WHAT IT MEANS

The Blazers (8-17) have now lost five straight games and nine of 11. The Spurs (13-12) won their second straight game.

CLINGAN COMES BACK

Rookie center Donovan Clingan returned after missing seven games with a knee sprain.

With Clingan on a minutes restriction, Billup’s Jabari Walker started at center.

Clingan came off the bench to score six points with seven rebounds in seven minutes.

Robert Williams III (concussion) sat out after being listed as questionable. Deandre Ayton was also missing due to illness.

Next

The Blazers play at the Phoenix Suns (12-11) on Sunday at 5 p.m.

— Aaron Fentress | [email protected] | @AaronJFentress (Twitter), @AaronJFentress (Instagram), @AaronFentress (Facebook)