PORTLAND — One was hardly the loneliest number in the Portland Trail Blazers locker room on Monday.
After keeping the season alive with a Game 4 win over San Antonio, “one” was on the tip of about every player’s tongue.
“One game at a time.”
That’s what everyone says when facing a 3-1 deficit in a best-of-seven series. But when you’re Will Barton, you live that every day.
A sparingly-used bench player much of the season, Barton made the most of his chance when asked to play significant minutes Monday. He scored 17 points in 30 minutes and gave the Blazers a fresh dose of energy from a bench that hasn’t provided that this series.
“For him to have 17 off the bench, that’s big for us,” Blazers coach Terry Stotts said.
Barton knows he won’t always light up the scoresheet. But whenever his number is called, he’ll give 100 percent of whatever is in the cards for him that night. Minutes are never guaranteed.
“Sometimes I’m going to make mistakes because I play so aggressive,” he said. “I wouldn’t call it wild because I’ve played that way my whole life. It got me to this point, so I must be doing something right.”
Barton wasn’t alone among the Blazers who showed a free-flowing aggressiveness in Monday against a Spurs defense that had been stifling up to this point.
“This was the first game we played Trail Blazer basketball,” LaMarcus Aldridge said.
Though the Blazers’ bench had been outscored 140-43 through Game 3, reserves Barton and Thomas Robinson played extended high-energy minutes.
That helped fill a gap left by the absence of Mo Williams, who missed his second consecutive game with a groin injury.
Robinson had nine points and five rebounds in 25 minutes.
“Defensively we didn’t have many lulls that have enabled them to make their runs,” Stotts said.
Blazers played Monday like they had nothing to lose. That was a big reason why they won.
