SAN ANTONIO -- Victor Wembanyama checked out with 52.8 seconds left in the game, pumping his right fist in acknowledgment of the fiesta-clad crowd at Frost Bank Center celebrating the San Antonio Spurs' first playoff victory in seven years.
Wembanyama scored a game-high 35 points Sunday to lead a 111-98 win over the Portland Trail Blazers in Game 1 of the first-round Western Conference playoff series. The Frenchman produced the highest-scoring output in franchise history for a Spur making his postseason debut, surpassing the previous mark of 32 points set by Hall of Famer Tim Duncan.
"I thought he was ready," San Antonio coach Mitch Johnson said. "There's an approach that we all have in terms of expectation of a heightened level of preparation, detail, nuance, competitiveness, physicality, everything. There's a real desire for that young man to participate in that. This was his first playoff game, and he has lofty expectations and goals for himself."
Wembanyama made that apparent with a dominating performance against an opponent that deployed a variety of tactics and personnel groupings devoted to stopping him. Over the course of 33 minutes, Wembanyama faced eight different defenders, and the 22-year-old big man poured in buckets on each of them.