The Spurs bring a seven-game winning streak into Friday night’s matchup with the Trail Blazers at the Moda Center, and they will try to extend that run against a Portland team that has also started the 2026-27 campaign strongly. It is the second night of a back-to-back for San Antonio, but the bigger storyline may be the rematch itself: these teams met in the first round of the playoffs almost seven months ago, when the Spurs won the series 4-1.
Portland entered the season with major changes, including the June 29 trade that sent Jerami Grant and Kris Murray to Memphis for Ja Morant. That move set the tone for an offseason that also included Damian Lillard’s return from Achilles surgery. The Blazers’ latest meeting with San Antonio comes with more uncertainty, though, because Ja Morant is out with a left hamstring strain.
What the recent games tell us
Both teams are coming off Friday games, and both showed why they have been among the early season’s more interesting teams. San Antonio beat Sacramento 124-109, continuing its surge into the top tier of the standings. Portland, meanwhile, lost to Luka Doncic’s Lakers 124-118, a tight result that still underscored how competitive the Blazers have been despite the injury interruptions.
For Portland, the absences matter because the roster has already had to adjust around Morant’s injury. He suffered the hamstring strain a week after his October 21 debut, when Portland beat Phoenix 124-83 in the same game Lillard returned. Morant was ruled out for at least four weeks after that injury, leaving the Blazers to keep moving without one of their highest-profile additions.
Why this matchup matters
The Spurs’ seven-game winning streak is the clearest marker of where they are right now: playing with confidence, getting results, and carrying momentum on the road. An eighth straight win would reinforce that they are not just off to a good start, but are building something that is holding up even on a back-to-back.
For the Trail Blazers, this is a chance to show they can stay steady against a team that handled them in the postseason. The first-round series was not long ago, and the playoff history adds some edge to a regular-season game that would otherwise look like a strong early matchup between two teams with playoff-level ambitions.
San Antonio has the streak. Portland has the home floor and the memory of how much has changed since April. Tonight’s game should help show which team is better equipped to keep that momentum going.
