'Super Locked In': How Spurs Sharpshooter Champagnie Shifted Series, Silenced Blazers

SAN ANTONIO - The lights went down before the Spurs' starters were introduced for Game 5 against the Trail Blazers, and Julian Champagnie had one last thing to do.

With only pyrotechnics and fiesta-colored visuals to light the way, the undrafted shooter launched from the corner and swished. He got the ball back and hit again from the same spot, and then one more time before cutting for a dunk. Moments later, the PA announcer called out number 30, the forward from St. John's.

"I did every game," Champagnie said after the final buzzer. "Lindy (Waters III) closes out, and then Dylan (Harper) always passes to me. I do it almost every game. It's not too hard when you know the rim is at, like, once you see it before the lights go off, it's pretty easy. But, yeah, just my little thing to get in rhythm. Tell myself, 'well, you could shoot with the lights out, you can make a shot later when they're on."

With a red-hot start and a nose for the boards, Champagnie helped put away the Trail Blazers in Game 5. The low-key 3-and-D contributor went from the fringes of the NBA to the starting lineup of a title contender, and he reflected on this moment in his journey at the podium.

"It feels good, you know? It makes it... It makes it all worth it. Yeah, it makes it all worth it," Champagnie said.

In his first playoff series, with a chance to eliminate the visiting Blazers, Champagnie came out firing and scored 11 of his 19 points in the first quarter. He missed his first attempt and kept firing, hitting three triples and another with his foot on the line. The Brooklynite talked his trash to the talented Portland defenders who did their best to stop him.

Champagnie found the open spaces, and the ball met him there by way of his teammates. When the Spurs are playing the way they want to play, it sets this sharpshooter up for a big night.

"(Victor Wembanyama) was creating so much gravity," coach Mitch Johnson said. "We're passing the ball guys, we're getting out and getting 3s to Julian, and we're best when we're playing in space and playing fast. And when you do that, a lot of people can benefit."

Champagnie shot 62% from 3 in the first-round series, but the Blazers did a good job of limiting his attempts and holding him in check. Portland held him to single-digit scoring and three or four attempts from long range in each of the first four games. In the clincher, Champagnie got loose and drilled 5-7.

"Just start moving a little more," he said. "I think the first couple of games me specifically, I did a poor job of moving without the basketball. So just finding my little little spots, the margin is so slim."

Whether Champagnie scores six points or 20+, he's going to crash the boards and space the floor and truly pester whoever he happens to be guarding. He's a guy who almost never gets a play run for him, and always stands ready to knock down from outside.

"He's super locked in," Stephon Castle said. "I feel like all series, they've been making an emphasis on trying to limit his touches, not let him get any good looks. So when he finally got the ones that you know he was deserving, he knocked them down. I thought he was doing all the little things, all series, and I thought he deserved to start a game once like that."

Champagnie had never played in the postseason before this series, but he arrived to the closeout game with the exact right mentality and level of aggression.

"We didn't want to go back to Portland," he said. "That was kind of the emphasis for the guys on the team. We just didn't want to fly back to Portland for our flight. So beginning up 3-1, playing at home, you know it's a good chance to close it out and not go back. So that was all the motivation we needed tonight."

The 24-year-old Champagnie is talking like a veteran as he makes his postseason debut. In 2023 the 76ers cut him from his Two-Way deal so they could retain Mac McLung's services before the Dunk Contest. The Spurs claimed Champagnie off waivers, and since then he's become a consistent and integral part of this team's rotation. He's played in 185 regular-season games in a row, and took over as a starter in the middle of the season.

The Spurs have dealt with injuries all year up and down the roster, but Champagnie remained a constant who thrives in his role and steps up when needed. When Wembanyama went down with a concussion in Game 2, the Spurs responded with two comeback wins on the road and a wire-to-wire victory in the closeout game. Much like Champagnie's journey, the success can be traced back to the adversity.

"It made us realize that us realize that we have to make up for what we're going to miss for the next game or two," Champagnie said. "Having that there, and like, having to really pick up, I think it helps a lot, honestly. I think it gave us the spark that we needed to fight through it. And obviously, you know, the game he went down. We ended losing that game. And then the next game he didn't play, we go down a bunch, come back and win. So, you know, it's all a part of it, but it definitely gave us a good kick."

In a game that can be so much about energy, Champagnie matched what the home crowd gave them in the decisive Game 5.

"Guys think that I'm saying it because I play in San Antonio, but I genuinely think we have the best fans and the loudest ones," Champagnie said. "I think tonight, energy was insane from the start of the game. I don't know which, I don't know which game was louder, this one of the first one, the first one might have been, I'm not gonna lie, but the fans are great, man. We need them and them showing up gives us a big boost. That's how we start games, how we go on runs, and that's how we capitalize. So shout out to them."

On a night when San Antonians set off fireworks in the streets to celebrate the Spurs' first playoff series win in nine years, it was Champagnie who lit the first fuse. Everybody saw it when he torched the Blazers in the first quarter. And in the moments leading up to it, under the cover of darkness, he centered himself by sharing a moment with his teammates and the flashpot, with the ball and the hoop, with himself.

"Pressure is fun," Champagnie said. "I think that as a unit, we've all gone through pressure in our own ways, on our own growing up. So being at this stage, and having all you guys here, and having all the fans, the cameras and stuff, it's pressure. But I think we find it more than nerve-wracking. Obviously, we have a good group, and we all really like each other, so it makes it that much more easier to go out there and just play. So no, no pressure."

Two weeks ago Julian Champagnie didn't have any playoff experience. Now, he has a series win and a jugular-striking closeout game under his belt. He's confident in himself and his team, and for good reason.

"We're closer than we think we are, that we're a little more connected on the court than we think we are, at times, even when we're messing up, like we're still in the right spots, we're right there," Champagnie said.

"We have some grit and some fight and some toughness in us too," he said. "It's not all talent. It's not all superstars, they just get downhill, we just win because we're nice. Throughout this year that we've shown that we can be a physical team, and we can bump and hit all game long, just like other teams do with us. So I think that we're going to carry that toughness over into the next series."

Add us as a preferred source on Google