Portland’s Camara believes Blazers defense capable of containing Wemby, Spurs

MANILA, Philippines — Of course, the whole world knows that Victor Wembanyama will be the marked man for the San Antonio Spurs.

But the team’s guards are no pushovers, either.

With backcourt players De’Aaron Fox, Stephon Castle and Dylan Harper expected to also make some noise for the Spurs, the Portland Trail Blazers are aiming to bank on their defense as they try to take down the heavy favorites.

Portland wing Toumani Camara, in an interview with reporters early Saturday morning, voiced belief that their defenders have what it takes to contain the Spurs.

“Yeah, I think it's going to be very interesting, very exciting. Just because even though it's Jrue [Holiday], Matisse [Thybulle] and myself, we have Scoot [Henderson] that's been playing amazing defense recently… And yeah, we have Jeremy Grant that plays also amazing defense,” he said.

The team’s frontline is also well-prepared against the bigs of the Spurs, he added.

“Rob Williams, [Donovan Clingan], I think everybody. So, think it's going to be a great defensive show, really, to be able to go out there. I feel like that's really our advantage, how we're able to play defense, get stops, and control the basketball and make right play every time down,” he added.

Portland finished the regular season as the seventh seed. They held on to that seeding after surviving the Phoenix Suns in the play-in, which gave them their first playoff berth in five years.

“I think it's going to be a great series. Like I said, I'm just very excited to go out there and show what we can do defensively and offensively.”

The two teams had a 2-1 season series. The Spurs won against the Blazers in November (115-102, Spurs) and April (112-101, San Antonio) while Portland tallied a 115-110 victory back in January.

Offensively, Deni Avdija, Shaedon Sharpe and Grant are the leaders for Portland.

Still, it will be an uphill battle against Wembanyama and the Spurs, who have won 62 games this season.

Camara stressed that the team now has a higher level of focus and attention to detail, as they aim to go deep in the playoffs.

“Realizing all the talent that we have, they cannot go to waste. So I think we try to give ourselves the best chance possible to make something out of what we did this year and we were able to finish the year pretty strong with the way we competed and how we stay connected throughout this whole time.”

The Spurs-Blazers series will tip off on Monday (Manila time).

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