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A playoff series can turn at any time. The San Antonio Spurs handled the Portland Trail Blazers at home in Game One on the back of a historic playoff debut from Victor Wembanyama. There were moments, however, where it looked like the Blazers could make it an interesting game, including big runs in the third and fourth quarters, that cut into the Spurs’ lead. Despite the convincing Game One victory, San Antonio has to come out with the same sense of urgency to take care of business on their home floor.
In order to take care of business, they’ll have to find a way to slow down Deni Advija. The Blazers’ star was one of the only Portland players who could get into a real rhythm in Game One, scoring 30 points on 12 of 21 shooting. San Antonio did a solid job defending the rim on Sunday, allowing just 42 points in the paint, but Advija was the one Blazer they couldn’t keep away from the rim. The Spurs will have to make some adjustments to decrease Advija’s impact.
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The Spurs will look to leave some first-playoff-game jitters in the rearview, cut down on some turnovers, and make more easy shots in game two. If they can do that while continuing to play good defense, they will likely be heading to Portland with a 2-0 lead.
April 21st, 2026 | 7 PM CT
Watch: NBC/Peacock | Listen: WOAI (1200 AM)
Spurs Injuries: Jordan McLaughlin – Out (ankle)
Trail Blazers Injuries: Damian Lillard – Out (achilles)
What to watch for:
Taking advantage of bigs guarding Castle
Portland used an interesting defensive approach to guarding Wembanyama and Stephon Castle on Sunday. They put Donovan Clingan on Castle, and Toumani Camara on Wemby. It makes sense from the Blazers’ perspective. Camara is their best defender, and teams have found some success using wings to guard Wembanyama. Given Castle’s inconsistent jump shot, they can have the big man guarding him sag way off to provide more interior defense. Unfortunately for the Blazers, that strategy didn’t work on Wembanyama, who had a monster 35-point game. It did, however, throw Castle out of rhythm. Castle had 17 points on 4-13 shooting.
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Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/game-preview-san-antonio-spurs-070000258.html
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Publish date : 2026-04-21 07:00:00
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