Victor Wembanyama had 17 points, 14 rebounds and six blocks as the San Antonio Spurs never trailed in a 114-95 Game Five win that eliminated the Portland Trail Blazers on Tuesday night.
De’Aaron Fox scored 21 points, Julian Champagnie added 19 and Dylan Harper had 17 as the Spurs led by as many as 28, winning their third straight to advance to the second round.
“We didn’t want to go back to Portland,” Champagnie said. “That was kind of the emphasis for the guys on the team. We just didn’t want to fly back to Portland. It’s a four-hour flight. So being up 3-1 and playing at home, it’s a good chance to close it out and not go back. So, that was all of the motivation we needed tonight.”
San Antonio reaches the Western Conference semifinals for the first time since 2017. They will face the winner of the Denver Nuggets–Minnesota Timberwolves series; Minnesota leads 3-2 with Game Six on Thursday.
Wembanyama, the seven-foot-four center from France, starred in the closeout after San Antonio’s fall following Kawhi Leonard’s injury and trade allowed the Spurs to draft him. “It’s extremely difficult,” Portland coach Tiago Splitter said of Wembanyama’s defense. “You’ve got to do a lot of tricks and try to set back screens and seals and spin actions. It’s not easy because he can contest the 3 and the rim at the same time, basically. He’s going to create a lot of problems for a lot of teams for a long time.”
Portland trimmed the deficit to 91-82 with eight minutes left after an 11-0 run, but the Spurs snuffed the rally. Late in the game Wembanyama sent Deni Avdija’s floater off the top of the backboard and into the crowd. Avdija finished with 22 points but was just 1 for 6 from three-point range as Portland shot 23% from long distance.
Scoot Henderson managed only 10 points after a skirmish with Harper late in the third quarter of San Antonio’s 120-108 Game Three victory; the series featured several physical confrontations. Coach Mitch Johnson said the Spurs could not afford another early double-digit deficit, and San Antonio answered with a 17-4 start keyed by a pair of 3-pointers and eight early points from Champagnie.
Champagnie was 5 for 7 from long range and the Spurs shot 40% from three as they closed out the Trail Blazers.