April 29 - De'Aaron Fox scored 13 of his 21 points in the fourth quarter as the host San Antonio Spurs defeated the Portland Trail Blazers 114-95 on Tuesday to close out a 4-1 victory in the teams' first-round Western Conference playoff series.
Victor Wembanyama racked up 17 points, 14 rebounds and six blocked shots as the second-seeded Spurs secured a berth in the conference semifinals vs. either third-seeded Denver Nuggets or sixth-seeded Minnesota Timberwolves.
It’s San Antonio’s first trip to the second round of the playoffs since the 2016-17 season. It comes after a series in which Victor Wembanyama missed a game and a half after a fall that put him in concussion protocol. The Spurs lost Game 2, when he suffered the injury, their only loss to Portland in the series.
“We learned that we can overcome difficulties mid-game on the fly like that," Wembanyama said after Tuesday night's win.
San Antonio was in cruise control from the opening minutes and led by 28 points in the first half, by 20 at halftime and by 21 points after three quarters.
The Trail Blazers pulled within 97-88 on a three-point play by Jrue Holiday with 5:46 to play but never made a serious run the rest of the way as Fox made big play after big play to help San Antonio close out the victory.
“He knows how to step up in the right moments,” Wembanyama said of Fox.
Julian Champagnie added 19 points for the Spurs, with Dylan Harper scoring 17, Stephon Castle hitting for 15 before fouling out with 4:36 remaining and Devin Vassell tallying 10 points. Fox dished out a game-high nine assists.
Deni Avdija's 22 points paced Portland. Jerami Grant added 12, Robert Williams III and Sidy Cissoko scored 11 points each, and Donovan Clingan hit for 10.
Champagnie hit three 3-pointers, and had his toe on the line for a fourth, while scoring 11 points in the first quarter and helping the Spurs to a 36-24 advantage after 12 minutes of action.
San Antonio poured in on the second period, pushing its lead to 54-28 after a Wembanyama 3-pointer at the 6:45 mark. The Trail Blazers reeled off nine straight points capped by a dunk from Clingan to cull the margin to 17, but San Antonio swung back, with a three-point play by Luke Kornet highlighting a 12-2 run that built the lead to 65-37.
The Spurs were up 65-45 at the break even though Wembanyama took just three shots (and made them all) while scoring seven first-half points. Champagnie led the way with 14 points and Fox dished out seven assists in a first half that San Antonio outshot the Trail Blazers 66.7% to 36.5%.
Avdija's 16 points led all scorers before halftime.
— Field Level Media