{"id":1908264,"date":"2026-04-29T04:33:00","date_gmt":"2026-04-29T01:33:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=1908264"},"modified":"2026-04-29T04:33:00","modified_gmt":"2026-04-29T01:33:00","slug":"deaaron-fox-spurs-dispatch-trail-blazers-to-win-first-playoff-series-since-2017-takeaways","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=1908264","title":{"rendered":"De\u2019Aaron Fox, Spurs dispatch Trail Blazers to win first playoff series since 2017: Takeaways"},"content":{"rendered":"
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De\u2019Aaron Fox finished with 21 points and nine assists to power the No. 2-seeded San Antonio Spurs to a 114-95 victory over the No. 7 Portland Trail Blazers at home Tuesday and into the semifinals of the Western Conference playoffs.<\/p>\n

The Spurs posted all four of their wins in the five-game first-round series by at least 12 points as they advanced in the playoffs for the first time since 2017.<\/p>\n

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Victor Wembanyama had 17 points (5-for-7 from the field), 14 rebounds and six blocks for the Spurs, who led by 28 points in the second quarter. Deni Avdija led the Blazers with 22 points, making 7 of 15 shots, but only 1 of 6 from 3-point range.<\/p>\n

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The Blazers\u2019 lone win in the series, 106-103 in Game 2, came when Wembanyama left with a concussion.<\/p>\n

The Spurs will play the winner of the Denver Nuggets-Minnesota Timberwolves series, which the Timberwolves lead 3-2.<\/p>\n

Here are more takeaways from the game.<\/p>\n

Spurs have the look of a title favorite<\/h2>\n

The Spurs went through the second half of the regular season constantly dominating opponents. They cruised to so many easy wins that it begged the question of whether they could really win consistently when the temperature turns up in the playoffs.<\/p>\n

The conclusion to this series with Portland showed that, yes, those regular-season shows of force carry over to the playoffs when the moment calls for it. They came out in Game 5 with the swag of a true contender. Wembanyama was screaming at the crowd that was in a pervasive uproar, the team attacked with force and, outside of a brief stretch early in the fourth quarter, never let the foot off the gas.<\/p>\n

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It became clear Wembanyama was ready before the game when he threw down the through-the-legs dunks he often misses in warmups. He had a different juice coming into this game. But the way he managed the game showed how much he can handle the eye of the storm. He took just seven shots in this game, controlling it instead as a choreographer off the ball and a terror protecting the rim on the other end. He looked more in control of this game than he did all series \u2014 a premonition that he is realizing his potential in real time.<\/p>\n

When it looked like the game was potentially getting too close for comfort late, Wembanyama shut the door by spiking an Avdija floater over the backboard. Yes \u2014 over the backboard. It was the perfect reminder that Wembanyama changes the game when he puts his stamp on it.<\/p>\n

Wembanyama and the Spurs look ready for whoever comes their way in the next round. A decimated Wolves squad? A resurgent Nuggets? The Spurs showed in this series that they have the answers to solve just about any problem, especially when Wembanyama owns the rim. \u2014 Jared Weiss, Spurs writer<\/em><\/p>\n

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Where was Shaedon Sharpe?<\/h2>\n

With their season on the line, the Blazers\u2019 second-leading scorer during the regular season was glued to the bench. Sharpe, who averaged 20.8 points per game this season, watched as his team whittled what was once a 28-point Spurs lead to as few as eight in the fourth quarter. Blazers coach Tiago Splitter instead went with Vit Krej\u0107i, a midseason acquisition who appeared in 19 games for Portland before the start of the postseason.<\/p>\n

Sharpe finished the game with 5 points on 2-of-5 shooting in six minutes, part of a disappointing series for the 22-year-old wing who inked a $90 million contract extension with the Blazers in October.<\/p>\n

The Blazers struggled on offense in their season-ending loss to the Spurs. They shot 35.1 percent from the field and 23.4 percent from 3. Starting guards Jrue Holiday and Scoot Henderson combined for 13 points on 5-of-20 shooting. Portland needed much more from both of them \u2014as well as Sharpe \u2014 to have any hope of extending the series.<\/p>\n

Splitter suggested before the game that he might change his starting lineup but ultimately stuck with the five that he\u2019d been starting for the entire series. It was particularly noticeable how little trust Splitter had in Sharpe, who played more than 15 minutes in a game only once in San Antonio\u2019s five-game series victory.<\/p>\n

The Blazers, who were the only team ranked in the bottom-10 in offense in the regular season to make the playoffs, should get a healthy Damian Lillard back next season. But questions remain about their shot creation and scoring ability \u2014 areas where Sharpe is supposed to help. \u2014 Christian Clark, NBA staff writer<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

De\u2019Aaron Fox finished with 21 points and nine assists to power the No. 2-seeded San Antonio Spurs to a 114-95 victory over the No. 7 Portland Trail Blazers at home Tuesday and into the semifinals of the Western Conference playoffs. The Spurs posted all four of their wins in the five-game first-round series by at […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[226,241],"class_list":["post-1908264","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-crawlmanager","tag-nytimes-com"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1908264","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1908264"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1908264\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1908264"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1908264"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1908264"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}