The San Antonio Spurs lead the Portland Trail Blazers 3-1 in their first-round matchup, but the Blazers have looked like the better team early in the last two games.
The San Antonio Spurs are up 3-1 over the Portland Trail Blazers as their first-round series heads back to Texas for Game 5. However, it hasn't all been smooth sailing, as the Spurs trailed by 15 in Game 3 and 17 in Game 4, before roaring back.
In Game 3, the Spurs relied on Dylan Harper and Stephon Castle to lead the offense as Victor Wembanyama sat out. In Game 4, Wembanyama was back on the court, although both he and the Spurs got off to a slow start. However, Wemby would finish with 27 points, 12 rebounds, and seven blocks, further cementing himself as one of the best players in the league in just his second full playoff game.
As the Spurs look to close things out at home, they are fully aware that a game is never over until the final buzzer sounds, but they would prefer to remain in control all game long instead of having to fight their way back.
Spurs' Signature In Postseason Are Comeback Wins
The Spurs would certainly prefer to dominate from tipoff to the final buzzer, but against a gritty team like Portland and having missed their best player for all of Game 3, winning both games in the Pacific Northwest is a massive win.
According to the Spurs, they didn't change much during either of their comebacks. The strategy remained the same; they simply played better. What a strategy!
"I think we executed the things that we wanted to start the game on better," summed up Mitch Johnson. "There wasn't a ton of new. There was more clarity in doubling down and picking a fight on a few things that we felt like were the right idea, and we needed to do them better as a group and more together."
Of course, getting Wembanyama back in rhythm helped a lot. The French superstar is one of the most competitive players in the league, and he wasn't going to tap out just because the deficit looked insurmountable.
The rest of the team felt the same way.
"They've shown some tremendous gall in the response of where we have been a few times in the second half in the last two games, and we've got to try to shrink that margin, so to speak, and most specifically raise our floor of level of play," Johnson added. "We executed better, we moved the ball better, we set better screens and rolled more, which put more pressure on the rim, and then that opened up things for others, whether that was the person handling, hitting the roller, or then getting off the basketball when we created a crowd with the roll or that initial penetration."
With a chance to beat the drum in front of the home crowd after winning his first playoff series, expect Wembanyama to be on an even higher level on Tuesday as the Spurs host Game 5.