How the Spurs Can Be Even Better in Game 2 Against Portland

SAN ANTONIO - The Spurs took care of business in Game 1 against the Portland Trail Blazers, and they still have another level to reach.

Victor Wembanyama scored 35 to lead San Antonio to the win in the franchise's first playoff game in seven years, a 111-98 victory in front of a raucous crowd. As well as the Spurs played, there are still a few things that the 62-win squad can tighten up as they look to take a 2-0 series lead into the road games in Portland.

Where the Spurs Dominated

Consistent Defense

The Spurs had a top-three defense in the NBA across the regular season, and on Monday night they held Portland's bottom-10 offense under 100 points. Perhaps more impressively, San Antonio didn't allow the visitors to score more than 28 points in any of the four quarters.

Victor Wembanyama just became the first unanimous Defensive Player of the Year, and he showed why in the first game. With Wemby locking down the paint and everyone else aggressive on the perimeter, San Antonio made it very difficult for Portland to get any consistent offense going.

The Spurs did allow quite a few open 3-point shots, but they were clearly comfortable with who was shooting them. More than half of Portland's long-range attempts were classified as wide-open, and they hit under 24% of them.

Defending Without Fouling

The Blazers and their star Deni Avdija are known for getting to the free throw line, but the Spurs did a good job of defending without fouling.

Avdija averaged over nine attempts per game during the regular season, but he got just six against San Antonio and one came on a technical. A team used to attempting over 25 free throws per game got less than half of that in the playoff opener.

Part of that is that physicality ramps up and whistles blow less often in the postseason, and the other part is that the Spurs were the best team in the league at defending without fouling all season long.

Areas for Improvement

Turnover Battle

The Blazers turned the ball over more than anyone else by a wide margin this season, and had the worst assist-to-turnover ratio in the league. Meanwhile, the Spurs offense has been humming and moving the ball well.

That wasn't the case in Game 1, though, as Portland finished with 28 assists and 11 turnovers while San Antonio did worse in both categories with 24 and 14. On a positive note, the Spurs were still able to outscore the Blazers 20-11 on the fast break.

If the Spurs can do a better job of taking care of the ball and attacking the most turnover-prone team in the NBA, they may be looking at an even more lopsided result.

Bench Scoring

San Antonio boasts a deep 10-man rotation with scorers all over, but their bench managed just 21 total points in the playoff opener. Luke Kornet was the only player off the pine in double-figure scoring, as Harrison Barnes and Keldon Johnson each scored just a single basket.

Rookie Dylan Harper scored six points, and interestingly he led the team with a +/- of +18.

WHO:

#7 Portland Trail Blazers (0-1)
#2 San Antonio Spurs (1-0)

WHEN:

Tuesday, April 21 (Tipoff 7 p.m. Central)

WHERE:

Frost Bank Center, San Antonio, Texas

HOW TO WATCH:

NBC, Peacock

INJURY REPORT:

POR:

Damian Lillard (Achilles) - OUT

SAS:

Jordan McLaughlin (ankle) - OUT

Add us as a preferred source on Google