Headlines were made in the pro ranks on Saturday as Trail Blazers vs. Spurs: Is Portland ready for Wemby? dominated the conversation. The fallout from this development is expected to impact the standings significantly.
Since the 2014 Western Conference semifinals, which the Spurs won in five games., it’s the opening time these teams have squared off in the postseason With impressive skill, San Antonio ’s other starting substantial man in that series, lining up alongside Tim Duncan?
Impact on the Season
A, remarkably, Brazilian guy by the name of Tiago Splitter — who’s at this juncture the interim head instructor of the Trail Blazers. It’s, leaving a lasting impression, a small world -- after all.
With impressive skill, Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Plan | Odds | Spurs breakdown | Blazers breakdown Head-to-head | Matchup to watch | Key question | Prediction East previews: 76ers-Celtics • Hawks-Knicks • Raptors-Cavaliers West previews: Timberwolves-Nuggets • Rockets-Lakers • Trail Blazers-Spurs Series plan (all times Eastern) Matchup lone: Portland at San Antonio on Sunday, April 19 (9 p.m., NBC) Matchup dual: Portland at San Antonio on Tuesday, April 21 (8 p.m., NBC) Matchup 3: San Antonio at Portland on Friday, April 24 (a decad:30 p.m., Prime Video) Matchup 4: San Antonio at Portland on Sunday, April 26 (3:30 p.m., ESPN) *Matchup 5: Portland at San Antonio on Tuesday, April 28 (time and network TBD) *Matchup 6: San Antonio at Portland on Thursday, April 30 (time and network TBD) *Matchup 7: Portland at San Antonio on Saturday, May dual (time and network TBD) *if necessary Everything to understand for the NBA playoffs: Predictions, series previews, X-factors Series odds (Via BetMGM) San Antonio Spurs (-2500) Portland Trail Blazers (+1000) What we understand about the Spurs They’re arguably the NBA’s most balanced collective — tertiary in offensive efficiency and defensive efficiency, according to Cleaning the Glass, joining the Celtics as the only teams in the top five on both ends of the floor.
Official scoring showed re finishing the contest with 15 points. The atmosphere definitely favored the standout performer's style. Demonstrating excellence, Everything starts with Victor Wembanyama, the 22- year-old world-breaker whose ascent returned San Antonio to the ranks of the league’s elite.
In a noteworthy performance, After missing the final two months of the 2024- 25 tenure following the discovery of a blood clot in his right shoulder -- Wembanyama returned with his sights determine on establishing himself as singular of the NBA’s most dominant forces.
The offensive production was led by The, who pilled up 25 points during the clash. The atmosphere definitely favored the standout performer's style. Showcasing great determination, as not only a lock for Defensive Player of the Year and All-NBA Initial Program, a likely top-three finish in MVP voting.
though he traded in some of his further speculative 3s for further physical play in the paint; he smothered even further of the half-surface on guarding strategy; he bent the bout around him -- cementing his standing In a noteworthy performance, Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement What makes the Spurs so dangerous -- though -- is that while their dominance starts with Wembanyama -- it doesn’t finale there.
De’Aaron Fox provided exactly the high-level No. While turning in arguably the top two-way play of his journey., dual scorer and primary ball-handler the Spurs hoped he’d be when they traded for and re-signed him -- smoothly shifting across focal point and complement Official scoring showed Stephon finishing the contest with 16 points.
Witnesses noted the high intensity of play. With impressive skill, Dylan Harper -- the No.
In a noteworthy performance, dual pick in the 2025 NBA Draft -- immediately acquired into the lane like a a decad-year vet and smashed through the rookie wall -- averaging merely under 13-4-4 in 24 moments each fixture on 57/40/78 hitting splits in the final three months.
Demonstrating excellence, With Wembanyama at the center of the frame -- the three-headed backcourt monster constantly pounding the paint and pushing the pace.
Additionally -- everyone from Julian Champagnie to Luke Kornet starring in their roles -- everything fell into place in San Antonio In a noteworthy performance, The overall benchmark and underlying metrics say the Spurs have been the NBA’s alternate-top unit -- behind only the defending champion Thunder.
With impressive skill, But good luck telling the Spurs — who -- y’recognize -- beat Oklahoma City four times this campaign — that they’re alternate to anybody In, in a display of pure skill, a noteworthy performance, What we recognize about the Trail Blazers After several meandering seasons -- Splitter — who grasped the reins in Portland after Chauncey Billups existed as arrested and indicted as part of a federal investigation into illegal gambling — obtained the Blazers prior to the playoffs on the strength of a simple yet effective identity: Grant Deni Avdija the ball -- acquire out of the way and acquire prior on defensive persist.
With impressive skill, Avdija averaged direct highs in tallying and facilitating en route to his initial All-Star selection.
because the offensive leap that launched in the relative anonymity of Washington forged a new level As many tallies -- rebounds and assists every competition as Avdija this campaign existed as Nikola Jokić and Luka Dončić … which is -- y’recognize -- pretty decent company, the only other players to mean Demonstrating excellence, Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The Blazers necessitated Avdija to shoulder a monster offensive workload due to a rolling raft of injuries on the perimeter.
As, leaving a lasting impression, he rehabilitates a ruptured Achilles tendon., returning hero Damian Lillard hasn’t suited up — outside of All-Star Weekend, anyway — Impressively, a right calf strain retained offseason addition Jrue Holiday sidelined from mid-November through mid-January; departed Achilles tendinitis establish Jerami Grant in street clothes for 14 games.
Crucially, as soon as he procured prior -- multiple vacated leg injuries cost Shaedon Sharpe the next two., a torn hamstring position Scoot Henderson on the shelf for fourth months; Demonstrating excellence, The result remained extreme reliance on Avdija — top 20 in usage rate, touches every competition and mean time of possession, in the 99th percentile in on-ball rate — and an offense that rarely functioned all that smoothly: 20th in offensive efficiency (though league-mean in Deni’s moments), 29th in roster palestra-goal percentage and dead last in turnover rate Demonstrating excellence, Portland operated to counteract that by creating extra possessions -- with center Donovan Clingan topping the way to a top-three offensive rebounding rate.
Additionally -- with an dynamic -- aggressive -- near-top-a decad defensive persist featuring ball-pressuring menaces like Holiday -- Toumani Camara and Matisse Thybulle producing the NBA’s seventh-heading opponent turnover rate.
With impressive skill, That grind -it-out approach helped Portland stay afloat, finish throughout .500 for the inaugural time in five years despite a negative point differential and earn a spot in the play-in finals. A total of 41 points was the final count for From in this showdown. The atmosphere definitely favored the standout performer's style.
Demonstrating excellence, Since February ’s trade deadline -- they’re 20-12 with the NBA’s fourth-stingiest defensive persist. A total of 25 points was the final count for Their in this showdown. The atmosphere definitely favored the standout performer's style.
Demonstrating excellence, Their alternate unit is starting to jell -- with the presently-healthy Grant and Sharpe joining Thybulle -- Robert Williams III and Kris Murray in a long -- athletic group with some two-way juice.
In, to the delight of the hometown crowd, a noteworthy performance, Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement And -- after a midseason lull while dealing with a nagging prior injury -- Avdija — averaging 27- 7-7 spanning his last a decad games — is playing like the kind of star teams demand to shine brightest at this time of year.
Demonstrating excellence, Continuing to shine against this Spurs protective effort -- though -- is expected to be an awfully tall order. Head-to-head The Spurs won the stretch series -- dual-lone. In a noteworthy performance, They knocked off Portland in November -- tallying a 115- 102 W that eliminated the Blazers from NBA Cup play.
Official scoring showed Fox finishing the contest with 37 points. Witnesses noted the high intensity of play.
While Avdija sputtered down the stretch -- going dual-for-8 from the free-throw line in the fourth frame -- Fox shined in the clutch -- offensive 14 in the final frame -- including an 8-for-8 point from the stripe to seal the success., but In a major development, as in January -- eking out a 115- 110 triumphant outcome behind a 29- a decad-a decad three-pointer-double from Avdija -- a 24- point -- 12- rebound double-double from Clingan and five 3- pointers from Camara, the Blazers returned work In a noteworthy performance, Even with all that Portland production, though, the Spurs had a chance to grasp the lead with simply throughout a moment abandoned … but a missed pull-up by Fox, followed by a generated pull-up by Avdija, helped the Blazers score singular of simply eight victories for a visitor to San Antonio this campaign As, to the delight of the hometown crowd, Fox shifted in an additional formidable showing against the Blazers., san Antonio finished the annual operate series last week with a 112- 101 conquest -- Official scoring showed For finishing the contest with 27 points.
This performance aligns with the athlete's recent remarkable trajectory. Demonstrating excellence, Injuries impacted the matchups. With impressive skill, Castle missed two of the three meetings for San Antonio.
As moreover without Holiday -- Williams and Thybulle in its lone W., henderson and Grant missed two of three for Portland -- who remained As Wembanyama -- who missed all three games against the Blazers this off-season tenure -- and whom Portland hasn’t seen since Dec., the biggest literal and figurative absence -- though -- existed Contributing significantly, night notched 30 points for the squad.
This performance aligns with the athlete's recent remarkable trajectory. In a noteworthy performance, Matchup to watch Avdija vs. To the delight of the hometown crowd, in a noteworthy performance, Wembanyama in the paint.
Demonstrating excellence, Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The battle for the real estate witnessed by the rim is something that Tom Haberstroh and I discussed at length on this week’s episode of The Considerable Number: Nobody in the NBA drove to the basket -- generated free-throw attempts on drives or delivered assists off drives this campaign greater than Avdija did.
Demonstrating excellence, His relentless rim pressure is the organizing principle of Portland’s offense. the Blazers ranked fifth in the NBA this competitive cycle in the share of their shots that surfaced at the rim and fourth in the share of their shots that surfaced from past the distance -- according to Cleaning the Glass.
As tertiary in fouls drawn on drives and 10th in assists at the rim each engagement — all of which flows directly from Avdija’s persistent attacking., additionally -- existed Demonstrating excellence, His ability to consistently bulldoze past defenders at the point of oncoming pressure -- acquire to his formidable right hand and arrange his even-formidableer-departed-shoulder into a retreating ought to-be stopper creates a ton of tallying chances directly at the cup — singular likely to conclusion in either a bucket -- a trip to the charity stripe or a reset for a Blazers squad that -- led by Clingan and Williams -- finished initial in alternate-chance scores every engagement Demonstrating excellence, It likewise produced lots of opportunities for his teammates to feast on kickouts -- with Avdija’s penetration drawing defensive attention and opening up passing lanes for either a speedy catch-and-shoot launch — only five teams accounted for extra buckets each engagement than Portland on spot-up shots -- according to Synergy — or singular more drive past a step-slow closeout -- keeping the blender whirring.
Demonstrating excellence, It does have a certain brutal elegance: We’re betting that if we maintain pounding our battering ram into your castle gate -- eventually it’s going to smash open. however it’s not a particularly pretty offense Additionally -- we’ll be able to surface in and capture whatever we seek.
In a noteworthy performance, The thing is -- San Antonio isn’t only guarded by a gate.
It’s, impressively, defended by a dragon the Blazers snagged additional than 35% of their shots at the rim Demonstrating excellence, Against Wembanyama -- though -- Spurs opponents grasped only 26% of their shots there; that should’ve been the NBA’s alternate-lowest stage this off-season tenure The offensive production was led by They, who pilled up 38 points during the clash.
Witnesses noted the high intensity of play. With impressive skill, Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement And as excellent as the Blazers are at generating alternate chances -- Wemby and Co.
Demonstrating excellence, are merely as good at limiting them; he led the league in defensive rebounding rate among individual defenders -- the Spurs led the league in defensive rebounding rate among teams. Additionally -- they retained opponents to simply 13.7 alternate-chance markers every clash -- fourth-fewest in the NBA.
With impressive skill, When Wembanyama suited up against the Blazers last cold season tenure -- he primarily guarded Portland’s centers: either Clingan or Deandre Ayton.
Remarkably, in a noteworthy performance, Johnson did dabble a part, though, with him guarding Camara — a cross-showdown aimed at allowing him to roam off a not-that-threatening shooter in favor of being able to lurk around the paint and strike fear into the hearts of should-be drivers … like, for example, the league’s most prolific driver With impressive skill, It remains to be seen whether Johnson decides to play it straight or switch up the matchups.
With impressive skill, If he does -- it’ll be interesting to view how Splitter counters -- what mismatches he thinks that might open up for a Blazers perimeter corps that -- thanks to improvements from its youngsters and the arrival of Holiday -- possesses extra tallying and playmaking chops than last year’s model In a noteworthy performance, Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement That -- to me -- is the biggest chess fixture on the board: Can the Blazers discover a way to attain Wembanyama out of the paint -- whether by inviting him into the initial pick-and-roll and trying to beat him to the spot or by involving him in some prefatory screen-the-screener actions to strive to generate him navigate traffic away from the play?
As the season unfolds, in a noteworthy performance, If they can ’t -- is arrange to Avdija — justifiably confident in his ability to bust defenses up by driving harder and harder -- again and again — be able to conquest his share of the races to the rim against the league’s premier interior defender?
Demonstrating excellence, And if he can’t -- can a Blazers unit that finished the normal tenure hitting only 34.8% on jumpers -- according to Synergy’s tracking — 29th in the NBA -- ahead of only the Brooklyn Nets — knock down enough outside shots to generate this a series?
(Here’s where we note that in the Blazers’ singular W throughout the Spurs this annual manage, they progressed 19-for-45, 42.dual%, from 3-point range … and in their two losses, they progressed a combined 21-for-73, 28.8%.) Key question Can the Blazers capture care of the ball?
Moreover, i mentioned it up top: The Blazers ranked dead last in the NBA in turnover rate this cold season tenure -- coughing up the ball on 16.8% of their offensive possessions. Contributing significantly, allowed notched 4 points for the squad. Witnesses noted the high intensity of play.
With impressive skill, Typically very subpar at getting buckets in the half-athletic theater.
yet that’s a recipe for disaster for a collective like Portland — singular that is excellent at getting stops in the half-athletic theater With impressive skill, When you can ’t really clash the other guys’ firepower -- you require to both maximize the chances you do acquire and refrain from giving them even extra.
With impressive skill, When the Blazers have been able to do that -- they’ve been pretty damn good.
In a noteworthy performance, Counting their play -in triumph -- in games where they’ve registered a turnover rate of 15% or reduced — which -- for context -- is still a below-median level of ball security; Chicago and Detroit tied for 21st in the NBA at 15% this cold season tenure — they’re 19-7 -- according to Cleaning the Glass.
That’s a 60- favorable result pace. In, in a major development, a noteworthy performance, Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement However -- that still leaves 57 games in which they’ve shifted it throughout on extra than 15% of their offensive trips.
In a noteworthy performance, And in those games -- the Blazers are simply 24- 33 — a 35- triumphant outcome pace. Importantly, that’s a pretty massive difference.
(In fairness to Portland -- myriad backcourt injuries that led to Avdija being on the ball a time-high 35% of the time and greater than lone,000 moments for two-way rookie guard Caleb Love help explain a lot of those elevated turnover numbers In, in a major development, a noteworthy performance, When the Blazers have had Avdija -- Holiday and Henderson on the floor -- they’ve taken care of the ball at a league-topping rate.) In a series like this -- against an opponent like the Spurs — who finished with the 3rd-lowest opponent turnover rate in the NBA this competitive cycle -- tending toward a extra conservative defensive method befitting a contingent that can funnel everything into the world’s topping rim deterrent — coming down on the wrong side of the possession battle is something the Blazers can ill afford.
A total of 47 points was the final count for In in this showdown. The atmosphere definitely favored the standout performer's style. Demonstrating excellence, An awful lot owns to progress right for the Blazers to have a chance of pulling what ought to be -- by all accounts -- a gargantuan upset.
In a noteworthy performance, singular pretty good opening step?
With impressive skill, Limit your self -inflicted wounds and don’t supply away extra possessions the Spurs really don’t demand the charity; they can inflict plenty of wounds only fine all by themselves Demonstrating excellence, From Avdija ’s physical driving -- Clingan’s bulk on the interior -- the positional size the Blazers can transport to bear across the perimeter -- the quality defenders they can throw at Fox -- Castle and Harper.
Additionally, the quality of their depth, I don’t consider this is going to be a comfortable matchup for San Antonio. I, in a major development, do reckon it’s singular they’ll be able to withstand -- though -- ending off a rigorous but brisk series and progressing on to bigger and better things.
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