{"id":322031,"date":"2026-04-21T05:40:34","date_gmt":"2026-04-21T00:10:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/?p=322031"},"modified":"2026-04-21T05:40:34","modified_gmt":"2026-04-21T00:10:34","slug":"wembanyama-scores-35-in-playoff-debut-spurs-blast-blazers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/index.php\/2026\/04\/21\/wembanyama-scores-35-in-playoff-debut-spurs-blast-blazers\/","title":{"rendered":"Wembanyama scores 35 in playoff debut, Spurs blast Blazers"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><\/p>\n<div id=\"FOR_target_content\">\n<div id=\"attachment_672401\" style=\"width: 1210px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\">\n<p id=\"caption-attachment-672401\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">San Antonio Spurs forward Victor Wembanyama (1) celebrates a play against the Portland Trail Blazers through the first half in Game 1 of a first-round NBA playoffs basketball series in San Antonio, Sunday, April 19, 2026. (AP Photo\/Eric Gay)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>SAN ANTONIO \u2014 Victor Wembanyama scored 35 points in his playoff debut and the San Antonio Spurs rolled to a 111-98 victory over the Portland Trail Blazers in Game 1 of their first-round Western Conference series Sunday night.<\/p>\n<p>Wembanyama\u2019s 21 first-half points set an NBA record for essentially the most within the opening half of an NBA playoff debut for the reason that league\u2019s play-by-play era began in 1997. His 35 total points set a Spurs franchise record for essentially the most in a playoff debut, surpassing Tim Duncan\u2019s 32 in 1998.<\/p>\n<div id=\"billboard_article\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<i id=\"art_cont\" style=\"color:#85A7BF;\">Article continues after this commercial<\/i><\/p><\/div>\n<h4>READ: SGA, Jokic, Wembanyama are NBA MVP finalists<\/h4>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"500\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">WEMBY\u2019S PLAYOFF DEBUT WAS HISTORIC \ud83d\udc7d<\/p>\n<p>35 PTS5 THREES2 BLKGAME 1 WIN<\/p>\n<p>He sets the Spurs franchise record for MOST PTS in a playoff debut AND becomes the ONLY player in NBA history with not less than 35 PTS &#038; 5 3PM in a playoff debut! <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/uHBFmQyN6k\">pic.twitter.com\/uHBFmQyN6k<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 NBA (@NBA) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/NBA\/status\/2046076914805125473?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">April 20, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>\u201cIt is clearly different, but we\u2019ve been really good within the regular season,\u201d Wembanyama said. \u201cSo, we have now no reason to act in another way or do anything different.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Game 2 is Tuesday night in San Antonio before the series heads to Portland for Games 3 and 4.<\/p>\n<p>Stephon Castle and De\u2019Aaron Fox each added 17 points and combined for 15 assists for San Antonio.<\/p>\n<div class=\"ztoop\">\n<i id=\"art_cont\" style=\"color:#85A7BF;\">Article continues after this commercial<\/i>\t\t  <\/p><\/div>\n<p>Deni Avdija had 30 points and 10 rebounds to guide Portland, which beat Phoenix 114-110 in Tuesday\u2019s play-in game to earn the No. 7 seed.<\/p>\n<h4>READ: Wembanyama scores 40 in sixty fifth game to guide Spurs past Mavs<\/h4>\n<p>Scoot Henderson, the No. 3 pick within the 2023 draft behind Wembanyama and Charlotte\u2019s Brandon Miller, added 18 points.<\/p>\n<p>The Spurs responded to the Trail Blazers\u2019 physicality while holding them to 10-for-38 shooting on 3-pointers and had a 45-38 rebounding advantage.<\/p>\n<div id=\"billboard_article\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<i id=\"art_cont\" style=\"color:#85A7BF;\">Article continues after this commercial<\/i><\/p><\/div>\n<p>\u201cThe Spurs put you in tough positions,\u201d Portland coach Tiago Splitter said. \u201cAgainst them, you\u2019ve got to shoot the ball well from 3s. We didn\u2019t. We\u2019ve got to shoot the ball higher.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The Spurs and the sell-out crowd \u2014 which included Duncan and former teammate and fellow Hall of Famer David Robinson sitting together courtside \u2014 on the Frost Bank Center were primed for the franchise\u2019s first playoff game since 2019. The six-season postseason drought got here immediately after San Antonio won five NBA championships while appearing in a league-tying 22 straight postseasons.<\/p>\n<h4>READ: Spurs\u2019 Wembanyama records fastest double-double in NBA history<\/h4>\n<p>Spurs fans are again dreaming big \u2014 and it\u2019s due to their 7-foot-4 post player from France who&#8217;s a finalist for the NBA\u2019s MVP and Defensive Player of the 12 months awards.<\/p>\n<p>Wembanyama\u2019s highlights included dribbling behind his back to avoid Avdija at halfcourt, backing him all the way down to the highest of the important thing, spinning around him and running free to the rim for a two-handed dunk midway through the primary quarter.<\/p>\n<p>San Antonio clamped down defensively to regain their double-digit lead within the third quarter, with Devin Vassell blocking Donovan Clingan and Jrue Holiday while scoring eight straight points.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThat\u2019s what we\u2019ve talked about, just not giving up on the play,\u201d Vassell said. \u201cEvery possession matters, whether it\u2019s the primary possession in the primary quarter or the last possession within the fourth quarter. Play to the whistle.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><br \/><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>San Antonio Spurs forward Victor Wembanyama (1) celebrates a play against the Portland Trail Blazers through the first half in Game 1 of a first-round NBA playoffs basketball series in San Antonio, Sunday, April 19, 2026. (AP Photo\/Eric Gay) SAN ANTONIO \u2014 Victor Wembanyama scored 35 points in his playoff debut and the San Antonio [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":322032,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[338],"tags":[4426,1228,1806,2441,1158,1206,1788],"class_list":["post-322031","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sports","tag-blast","tag-blazers","tag-debut","tag-playoff","tag-scores","tag-spurs","tag-wembanyama"],"aioseo_notices":[{"message":"The permalink for this post just changed! 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