San Antonio advances with Game 5
- San Antonio beat Portland 114-95 on Tuesday night in Game 5, closing the first-round series 4-1 and sending the Spurs to the West semifinals. - De'Aaron Fox scored 21 points, Victor Wembanyama added 17 points, 14 rebounds and six blocks, and Portland got 22 points from Deni Avdija. - The Spurs won their first playoff series since 2017 and will face Denver or Minnesota next. (nba.com)
The San Antonio Spurs beat the Portland Trail Blazers 114-95 on Tuesday, April 28, to win their first-round series 4-1 and move into the Western Conference semifinals. (nba.com) (espn.com) De'Aaron Fox led San Antonio with 21 points, and Victor Wembanyama finished with 17 points, 14 rebounds and six blocks in the clincher at Frost Bank Center. (nba.com) (espn.com) Deni Avdija scored 22 points for Portland, but the Trail Blazers dropped the series in five games after falling behind 3-1 on April 26. (espn.com 1) (espn.com 2) San Antonio had not won a playoff series since 2017, when the franchise was still in the Kawhi Leonard-LaMarcus Aldridge era. Tuesday's win ended that drought. (nba.com) The Spurs are now through to Round 2 while the other Western first-round series are still running, including Denver against Minnesota and Los Angeles against Houston. (nba.com) (espn.com) That gives San Antonio a set opponent range: the Spurs will face the winner of the Denver Nuggets-Minnesota Timberwolves series in the conference semifinals. (nba.com 1) (nba.com 2) The closeout came two days after San Antonio won Game 4 in Portland, 114-93, with Wembanyama returning from a concussion and posting 27 points, 11 rebounds and seven blocks. (espn.com) (nba.com) Fox said after Game 5 that Wembanyama is "like no one else," after the center followed that return with another double-double and more rim protection in the clincher. (nba.com) San Antonio is back in the second round, and Portland's season is over after a 42-40 regular season ended against the West's No. 2 seed. (espn.com 1) (espn.com 2)
