The Portland Trail Blazers will open the NBA playoffs on Sunday night with a road matchup against the San Antonio Spurs at Frost Bank Center. Portland enters the postseason with momentum after a massive win over the LA Clippers to secure the No. 7 seed, while San Antonio has been one of the best teams in the league all season long. Even as significant underdogs, the Blazers now have a chance to test themselves in a first-round series against one of the Western Conference’s toughest opponents.

This is a huge opportunity for a Portland team that was not expected by many to get this far this season. Not only did the Blazers make the playoffs, but they did it by earning the No. 7 seed, which is a strong accomplishment for a group that has steadily improved over the course of the year. Now the challenge becomes much steeper against a Spurs team that has looked like one of the top teams in basketball for most of the season.

San Antonio is led by Victor Wembanyama and has built its identity around elite defense, which immediately puts pressure on Portland in this matchup. The Blazers have had stretches this year where scoring has been a challenge, and in a playoff series where the game tends to slow down and every possession matters more, that issue becomes even more important. In a lot of ways, it is pretty simple for Portland. The Blazers have to hit shots and find enough half-court offense to avoid letting San Antonio fully dictate the game.

It is also hard to take too much from the regular season meetings because neither side consistently saw the other at full strength. That makes this series a little more difficult to project based purely on past matchups. Both teams are effectively healthy now in terms of the players expected to be available at this stage of the season, which should make this a much more accurate measuring stick.

If Portland can steal Game 1 on the road, it would immediately shift pressure onto San Antonio and change the feel of the series.

Following this contest, the Trail Blazers will remain in San Antonio for Game 2 early in the upcoming week. Portland would love to grab the opener and head into that second game with a real chance to take control of the series.