Spurs Finish Off Blazers: Three Things We Learned About San Antonio's Title Case After First Round
The Spurs are moving on to the second round of the playoffs.
After taking down the Trail Blazers, 114-95, in Game 5 on Tuesday night, San Antonio officially eliminated Portland in five games and secured a date with the winner of the Nuggets-Timberwolves series (whenever that wraps up). The crowd at Frost Bank Center was absolutely rocking all night long, sensing the Spurs' first playoff series win in nine years-and the team happily obliged. Led by a roaring, adrenaline-fueled Victor Wembanyama, San Antonio pounced on the opportunity to finish the Blazers off by getting out to a big lead early on. The Blazers made a late push but, like all quality playoff teams, the Spurs slammed the door shut to move on.
It was a short series without much drama other than the Wemby concussion situation. But it was a tremendous postseason debut for the superstar big man and most of his young teammates who haven't been here before. More than anything, it finally showed us what these Spurs were made of; winning 60 regular-season games is a big accomplishment but postseason basketball is basically a different sport entirely. It was worth wondering how they might hold up.
Safe to say they held up well enough!
Here are the three biggest things San Antonio's five-game first-round series told us about the Spurs' chances to compete for a championship this year.
Victor Wembanyama is the same dominant player in the playoffs
It was predictable in hindsight, but it's now official: wondering if Wembanyama would hold up in the playoffs was an absurd, fleeting thought that can already be dismissed.
In his first-ever postseason series, Wemby averaged 21.0 points, 8.8 rebounds and 4.0 blocks per game. His scoring peaked with an excellent Game 1 but he found ways to control the game throughout the series, mostly through the defense that made him the first unanimous DPOY. Such was the case in Game 5, as the star center couldn't find a flow offensively but dominated the paint, finishing with six blocks.
OH MY GOODNESS, THIS WEMBY BLOCK
- NBA (@NBA) April 29, 2026
"Even his dad says WOW!" pic.twitter.com/ye6pzK65I8
The concussion suffered in Game 2 makes for a blip but it was a fluky injury and certainly shouldn't serve as any proof that the 22-year-old's body isn't ready for the postseason gauntlet.
Everything about the young center's demeanor suggested he would; he's so intense he managed to get everyone to play hard in the All-Star Game, for crying out loud. Guys like that are built for the moments where they feel the pressure to perform. They embrace the weight of expectations. Wembanyama had all the makings of that kind of player, but we didn't know for sure until he was baptized by playoff basketball. Now we know for sure: Wembanyama is the same all-consuming, game-changing force in the playoffs as he was in the regular season.
Wemby passed his first playoff test with flying colors. Tougher times lay ahead; he will be tested again and again. But the generational superstar did not blink in his first postseason battle.
De'Aaron Fox still has plenty to offer
This was not a great year for De'Aaron Fox numbers-wise despite the overwhelming success of his team. The All-Star averaged only 18.6 points per game, his lowest since his second year in the NBA, and didn't look anything near the speedy offensive force everybody thought the Spurs were getting when they traded for him at the deadline last year. His shooting numbers were fine and obviously San Antonio won games in great quantity anyway, but the team would need more from Fox come playoffs. And based on what we saw this year it was not a guarantee he'd deliver.
It turns out such fears were for naught. Fox proved a steady hand for a Spurs team that needed it at times in the first round and came up biggest when it mattered most. The veteran point guard led the charge in Game 4 as San Antonio nearly allowed Portland to tie the series up 2–2 before going on a monstrous second-half run to change the series. Fox finished that night with 28 points as the Spurs made history. Then he finished the job in Game 5 with 13 fourth-quarter points in an incredibly clutch showing as Portland pushed, hard, to pull off a comeback.
CLUTCH @swipathefox
- San Antonio Spurs (@spurs) April 29, 2026
ESPN pic.twitter.com/rIOuK9g9ZZ
Fox's one foray into the playoffs in his career seems to have given him a good sense of the moment and every true contender needs a wily veteran who can change the tenor of the game at the right time. It seems the Spurs have theirs.
The supporting cast is ready
By far, the most impressive part of San Antonio's first-round win was the supporting cast that stepped up around Wembanyama when he went down with a concussion.
Losing a star of his caliber, even for just a game and a half, could've knocked the whole team off course. Especially a roster with nearly zero playoff experience, led by a coach going through his first postseason run alongside them. But they proved mature beyond their years and in the process inspired a lot more faith that the roster beyond Wemby was ready to win in the postseason.
Stephon Castle, Dylan Harper and Devin Vassell collectively did not flinch as the Blazers pressed them throughout the hard-fought series. Harper, in particular, seemed to snap when he was pushed during Game 3 by scoring a career-high 27 points to ensure the Spurs didn't fall behind 2–1. Julian Champagnie, the unheralded member of the starting lineup, played steady defense with occasional spurts of hot shooting.
Keldon Johnson lived up to his Sixth Man of the Year award by coming off the bench ready to provide whatever San Antonio was lacking. Luke Kornet was pressed into playing starter-level minutes after Wembanyama's concussion and San Antonio won his minutes by 15 in Game 2 and 3. Even Carter Bryant had a few good moments despite a relatively limited role in the regular season.
A weak rotation outside of the star players can sink a championship team's hopes in an instant. But this Spurs team doesn't seem to have that problem. This was a very impressive start to these playoffs on that front.
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as Spurs Finish Off Blazers: Three Things We Learned About San Antonio's Title Case After First Round.
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This story was originally published April 28, 2026 at 9:26 PM.