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The 2026 NBA Playoffs open in San Antonio with a fascinating contrast in styles as the No. 2 seed Spurs host the No. 7 seed Portland Trail Blazers on NBC and Peacock. The matchup marks the postseason return of playoff basketball to Texas for the first time in seven years. The Spurs (62-20) have been one of the league’s dominant forces since February, led by the incredible all-around play of third-year superstar Victor Wembanyama, who averaged 25 points and 3.1 blocks this season. Its been a beat as well for Portland (42-40) since they have seen the postseason. This is the Blazers’ first playoff appearance and in fact, first winning season since the 2020-21 campaign. The Trail Blazers secured the seventh seed with a 114-110 win at Phoenix in the Play-In Tournament on Tuesday. Led by Deni Avdija (24.2 ppg and 6.7 apg) Portland is looking to become just the 4th team to win a playoff series after advancing through the Play-In Tournament since it was adopted in its current format in 2021.
San Antonio won the regular season series, 2-1, including a 112-101 home win on April 8. Wembanyama did not play in any of the Spurs’ 3 games against Portland. It is the only team he did not face this season.
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This matchup also pits former high-profile college teammates against each other as UConn Huskies’ Donovan Clingan and Stephon Castle get set to battle. Each are major factors on the Blazers and Spurs respectively. Clingan finished the regular season as the NBA’s leading offensive rebounder (4.5 OREB/gm) and 3rd in the NBA in overall rebounding (11.6 rpg). He also led the NBA in total rebounds (892) and total offensive rebounds (a franchise-record 347). Castle followed up his 2024-25 Rookie of the Year campaign with improvements across the board in points and rebounds as well as a team-leading 7.4 assists per game.
This series may well come down to which team controls the boards. Behind Clingan’s NBA-leading 4.5 offensive rebounds per game, the Trail Blazers were second in the NBA in offensive rebounding (14.1 OREB/gm) and led the NBA in second chance points (18.4 per game) during the regular season….
Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/spurs-vs-blazers-nba-playoffs-131743162.html
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Publish date : 2026-04-19 13:17:00
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