Spurs advance with Game 5 win

San Antonio beat Portland 114-95 on Tuesday night to win the series 4-1 and move into the Western Conference semifinals. (nba.com) (espn.com) De'Aaron Fox scored a team-high 21 points, and 13 of them came in the fourth quarter as San Antonio pulled away at Frost Bank Center. (espn.com 1) (espn.com 2) ESPN's game log listed Deni Avdija with 22 points for Portland, while the Spurs finished the closeout win before a crowd of 19,063 in San Antonio. (espn.com) The victory gave the Spurs their first playoff series win since 2017, ending a nine-year wait to get back to the second round. (nba.com) (espn.com) The bracket shifted immediately after the result. NBA.com's playoff bracket shows No. 2 San Antonio now lined up against No. 1 Oklahoma City in the West semifinals. (nba.com) San Antonio won Games 1, 3 and 5, and dropped only Game 2 in the best-of-seven series against the No. 7 seed Trail Blazers. (espn.com) (nba.com) NBA.com said the Spurs showed "offensive versatility" in the clincher, a sign of how San Antonio's young core handled its first closeout game at home. (nba.com) Now the Spurs are back where they have not been since the post-Tim Duncan era began: four wins from the Western Conference finals. (espn.com) (nba.com)