Wembanyama’s playoff debut

Victor Wembanyama opened his first National Basketball Association playoff series with 35 points, and San Antonio beat Portland 111-98 in Game 1 on Sunday, April 19. (apnews.com) The win came at Frost Bank Center in San Antonio, where the second-seeded Spurs took a 1-0 lead over the seventh-seeded Trail Blazers in the Western Conference first round. (nba.com, sportingnews.com) Wembanyama’s 35 points set a Spurs franchise record for a playoff debut, according to National Basketball Association and ESPN reports after the game. (nba.com, espn.com) San Antonio had not won a playoff game in seven years, and the opener turned the series into an early test of how quickly Wembanyama’s regular-season dominance carries into postseason basketball, where defenses shrink the floor and possessions slow down. (espn.com, nytimes.com) That question has followed San Antonio all season because the Spurs climbed to the No. 2 seed behind a young core, but Wembanyama had never played a postseason game until Sunday night. (sports.yahoo.com, nba.com) Portland still has time to answer in the series, with Game 2 scheduled for Tuesday, April 21, in San Antonio before the matchup shifts to Oregon for Game 3 on Friday, April 24. (sportingnews.com, syracuse.com) For one night, though, the series belonged to the 7-foot-4 Spurs star, who gave San Antonio a 1-0 lead and a playoff debut that immediately reset the scale for what comes next. (apnews.com, nytimes.com)