{"id":6173,"date":"2026-04-20T09:35:25","date_gmt":"2026-04-20T09:35:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/2026\/04\/20\/wembanyama-makes-history-as-spurs-defeat-blazers-in-game-1\/"},"modified":"2026-04-20T09:35:25","modified_gmt":"2026-04-20T09:35:25","slug":"wembanyama-makes-history-as-spurs-defeat-blazers-in-game-1","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/2026\/04\/20\/wembanyama-makes-history-as-spurs-defeat-blazers-in-game-1\/","title":{"rendered":"Wembanyama makes history as Spurs defeat Blazers in Game 1"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<p><em>Victor Wembanyama set a new San Antonio record for the most points in an NBA playoff debut as the Spurs outlast Portland.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div aria-live=\"polite\" aria-atomic=\"true\">\n<p>Victor Wembanyama scored 35 points in his postseason debut as \u200cthe host San Antonio Spurs used a fourth-quarter run to create separation in a 111-98 win over the Portland Trail Blazers on Sunday in Game \u20601 of their Western Conference first-round \u2060playoff series.<\/p>\n<p>The Spurs took a 1-0 lead in the best-of-seven series with Game 2 on Tuesday in the Alamo City before switching to Portland for Games 3 and 4.<\/p>\n<section>\n<h2>Recommended Stories <\/h2>\n<p><span>list of 4 items<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><span>list 1 of 4<\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/sports\/2026\/4\/20\/kane-scores-as-bayern-munich-claim-bundesliga-title-with-stuttgart-victory\">Kane scores as Bayern sink Stuttgart to claim Bundesliga title<\/a><\/li>\n<li><span>list 2 of 4<\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/sports\/2026\/4\/19\/with-loss-at-man-city-have-arsenal-lost-their-grip-on-the-premier-league\">Panic in London: Have Arsenal lost their grip on the Premier League?<\/a><\/li>\n<li><span>list 3 of 4<\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/sports\/2026\/4\/19\/salah-scores-in-merseyside-derby-as-liverpool-win-to-boost-european-hopes\">Departing Salah scores in Merseyside derby as Liverpool win to stay fifth<\/a><\/li>\n<li><span>list 4 of 4<\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/sports\/2026\/4\/19\/humanoid-robot-breaks-half-marathon-world-record-in-beijing\">Humanoid robot breaks half marathon world record in Beijing<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span>end of list<\/span><\/section>\n<p>Wembanyama broke Tim Duncan\u2019s franchise record (32 in 1998) for most points in a playoff debut. He led \u2060all first-half scorers with 21 points \u2013 a league record for most in the first half of an NBA playoff debut going back to 1997, the start of the play-by-play era.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s good to get this one out of the way,\u201d Wembanyama said. \u201cWe just tried to do the things we\u2019ve been doing all year and stay \u2060solid. There was pressure on us to win the first game, but it wasn\u2019t that much pressure if we just stayed to the plan.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>San Antonio, the second seed in the West, led by 10 at halftime and by 15 after three quarters before all but cementing the win by scoring the first six points of the fourth quarter to go up 93-72.<\/p>\n<p>The seventh-seeded Trail Blazers clawed their way back to within 11 via a 13-3 run capped by Deni Avdija\u2019s dunk with 4:27 to play, \u200cbut San Antonio held strong down the stretch.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSomething that we learned is that every possession matters,\u201d Scoot Henderson said. \u201cNext game, I think we are all gonna be more aggressive defensively. I feel like I could be more aggressive. Defensively, I think there could be something more in the tank.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Stephon Castle and De\u2019Aaron Fox added 17 points apiece for the Spurs, with Devin Vassell scoring 15 and Luke Kornet hitting for 10.<\/p>\n<p>Avdija racked up 30 points and 10 rebounds to lead the Trail Blazers. Henderson scored 18, Robert Williams III had 11, Shaedon Sharpe hit for 10 and Jrue Holiday distributed 11 assists along with nine points.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_4506917\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-4506917\"><img decoding=\"async\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"http:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/AFP__20260420__2271636609__v1__HighRes__PortlandTrailBlazersVSanAntonioSpursGameOne-1776664545.jpg?w=770&#038;resize=770%2C513&#038;quality=80\" alt=\"Victor Wembanyama in action.\" fetchpriority=\"low\"><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-4506917\">Wembanyama (#1) drives to the basket during the playoff game against Portland [Jesse D Garrabrant\/Getty Images via AFP]<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>The Spurs jumped to the front in the game\u2019s early moments, building a nine-point lead on Fox\u2019s stepback 3-pointer at the 2:35 mark \u2060of the first quarter and jumping out to a 30-21 advantage after 12 minutes of play.<\/p>\n<p>San Antonio stoked the margin \u2060to 50-34 when Kornet threw down an alley-oop dunk from Castle with 5:24 to play in the second quarter. Avdija\u2019s three-point play with 2:28 left cut the deficit to seven points before Wembanyama poured in a layup and then a 3-pointer on back-to-back possessions to push the lead back to a dozen points. The Spurs led 59-49 at the break.<\/p>\n<p>\u201c[Wembanyama] has lofty expectations and goals \u2060for himself, and being in the playoffs is squarely a part of a lot of that,\u201d Spurs coach Mitch Johnson said. \u201cSo it\u2019s good to get the first one and kind of get that experience under your belt.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Avdija paced the Trail \u2060Blazers with 19 points over the opening two periods.<\/p>\n<p>The Trail Blazers reeled off the first eight \u2060points of the third quarter and had four chances to tie the game or go in front, but committed three turnovers and missed a shot over that stretch.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s hard to say,\u201d said Portland coach Tiago Splitter when asked if the team\u2019s lack of playoff experience played a role in the loss. \u201cIt\u2019s the first time we\u2019ve played against Wemby this season, so there\u2019s a lot to learn. It wasn\u2019t our \u200cbest night. It\u2019s really hard to take him out of the paint. Those five threes really hurt us.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>San Antonio regained its stride and built the lead to a game-high 17 points on Julian Champagnie\u2019s 3-pointer with 53 seconds to play in the period before settling for an 87-72 lead heading into the final \u200c12 \u200cminutes.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOur first timeout, in the first quarter, I think it took everybody a minute to kind of settle in,\u201d Vassell said. \u201cEven in the second half, it took a minute when [Portland] went on a run. Basketball is a game of runs, so if we can withstand that, get some stops and start getting some good looks, we knew we\u2019d be all right.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Victor Wembanyama set a new San Antonio record for the most points in an NBA playoff debut as the Spurs outlast Portland. Victor Wembanyama scored 35 points in his postseason debut as \u200cthe host San Antonio Spurs used a fourth-quarter run to create separation in a 111-98 win over the Portland Trail Blazers on Sunday &#8230; <a title=\"Wembanyama makes history as Spurs defeat Blazers in Game 1\" class=\"read-more\" href=\"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/2026\/04\/20\/wembanyama-makes-history-as-spurs-defeat-blazers-in-game-1\/\" aria-label=\"Read more about Wembanyama makes history as Spurs defeat Blazers in Game 1\">Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":6174,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6173","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-travel"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6173","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6173"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6173\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6174"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6173"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6173"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6173"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}