Wembanyama's playoff debut

Victor Wembanyama opened his first National Basketball Association playoff game with 35 points, and San Antonio beat Portland 111-98 in Game 1 on April 19. (nba.com) The 21-year-old center shot 13-for-21 from the field and 5-for-6 from 3-point range, adding five rebounds, two blocks and one assist at Frost Bank Center. (apnews.com) His 35 points set a Spurs record for a playoff debut, passing Tim Duncan’s 32, and his 21 first-half points were the most in the opening half of a playoff debut since the National Basketball Association began tracking play-by-play in 1997. (espn.com) San Antonio entered the postseason as the Western Conference’s No. 2 seed at 62-20, and Sunday’s win was the franchise’s first playoff victory in seven years. Duncan and David Robinson were both in the arena for the opener. (espn.com) The game quickly became one of the first weekend’s main talking points because it was Wembanyama’s first postseason test after a regular season that turned San Antonio from a lottery team into a top-two seed. National Basketball Association highlight packages pushed his scoring burst within hours of the final buzzer. (nba.com) Portland stayed close into the second half, but San Antonio separated in the fourth quarter, when Wembanyama scored 14 points. The Spurs lead the best-of-seven series 1-0, with Game 2 scheduled for Tuesday in San Antonio. (upi.com) Wembanyama said after the game that the playoff setting did not rattle him, and Spurs coach Mitch Johnson said the crowd gave the team a lift in its first home postseason game since 2019. Portland now has two days to adjust its coverages before the series shifts north later this week. (apnews.com) One game does not decide a series, but Game 1 put Wembanyama at the center of the opening round on the first night he stepped into it. By the final minute, the home crowd was standing and he was pumping his fist on the way to the bench. (espn.com)