The Portland Trail Blazers made it look easy on Tuesday night (Feb. 21), beating the San Antonio Spurs by 40 points. With Jamal Crawford in as the starting point guard, the Blazers jumped out to an early lead and never looked back in this one. Seven players scored in double-figures, including seldom used Elliott Williams, who scored 17 points in almost 18 minutes of action. The 137-97 win was certainly a nice one, even if it did come against a team resting its starters.

Spurs coach Greg Popovich decided to rest Tim Duncan, Tony Parker and Manu Ginobili, taking away the three top scorers from the team for the night. It’s a strategy that he has employed before, allowing his veterans to take a night off and worry more about the postseason than a game in the middle of February. For a team coming into this game at 23-9 (second best record in the Western Conference), it’s hard to argue against a strategy that has netted the Spurs four NBA titles in the Popovich-Duncan era.

This turned into a great way for Blazers coach Nate McMillan to rest his starters as well, with Gerald Wallace the only player that was on the court for more than 31 minutes. Four starters finished with at least 19 points, with LaMarcus Aldridge leading the way with 21 points and Crawford hitting for 20 on the night. With Crawford on the court in this one, the Blazers out-scored the Spurs by 37 points. He shot 6-for-8 from the field and dished out 8 assists on the way to his first win since taking over as the starting point guard for the team.

This win helped the Blazers to improve to 18-16 and getting a win is more important than the opponent it comes against at this point of the season. The team still trails both the Denver Nuggets and Oklahoma City Thunder in the Northwest division and remains in ninth place in the West standings. Portland will have to string a number of wins together in order to start moving up the list again, but beating the Spurs was definitely a good start.

This was the last game for the Blazers before the All-Star break and it was good to go out on a high note. The team returns to the court on Wednesday, Feb. 29 against the Denver Nuggets (on the road) and then plays Thursday (March 1) as well against the Miami Heat (at Rose Garden).

More From YCN:

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Lakers Blown Out By Portland

Blazers Take Out Thunder

Blazers Predicted to Miss Playoffs

Sources:

Blazers_Team_Stats

Blazers Full Schedule

Blazers Preseason Schedule

Blazers Team Page

Blazers Updated Roster

*Ryan is a Northwest bred sports fan that has been a Portland Trail Blazers fan for years. He has high hopes that the Blazers can make it to the Western Conference Playoffs again this year.

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