The San Antonio Spurs opened the NBA playoffs with an impressive 111-98 victory over the Portland Trail Blazers in Game 1 on Sunday.
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Both offenses got off to a slow start, but Victor Wembanyama and the Spurs quickly gained momentum in the first and jumped out to a nine-point lead after the first quarter.
In the second frame, Scoot Henderson and the Blazers put up more of a fight, but the Spurs’ smothering defense and dynamic offense kept Portland at arm’s reach. By halftime, San Antonio was ahead by 10.
The Trail Blazers came out in the second half with some momentary grit, going on a scoring run to cut the deficit to just two points, but the Spurs responded swiftly.
Devin Vassell caught fire on both ends as he poured in eight points in just eight minutes of third quarter action. Portland’s offense stuttered as San Antonio erupted in cheers and the gap expanded.
The Spurs remained reliable on the outside as their lead grew to 20 points early in the final quarter. The game looked out of reach, but the Blazers pulled together a scoring run to cut it to 11 with less than four minutes to go before a Wembanyama alley-oop dunk forced a timeout.
Portland was unable to make the game any close down the stretch.
Wembanyama put up 35 points, surpassing Tim Duncan for the most points by a Spurs player in a playoff debut. He shot 13-of-21 from the floor and 5-of-6 from three.
For Portland, Deni Avdija led the way with 30 points, 10 rebounds and five assists.
James Parker contributed to this story.
