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ramona shelburne
multiple authors
for good 90 minutes before the San Antonio Spurs’ first playoff game in seven years, the crowd inside Frost Bank Arena was fully engaged in one of the most effective forms of peer pressure. Every seat inside the arena had a pink, orange or teal T-shirt to celebrate Fiesta Week in San Antonio.
There are no exceptions. No commercial colors. If Spurs legends David Robinson and Tim Duncan can wear orange shirts and longtime Spurs president RC Buford can wear hot pink shirts, so can you.
Those who do not are immediately caught by in-house cameras and shown on the arena scoreboard, then mocked mercilessly by the crowd until they acquiesce, which they always do.
Before the players took the field, nothing seemed more important to the crowd on Sunday than a game of “Put Your Shirt On.”
i.e. until Victor Wembanyama Took to the court wearing matching bright orange, size-20.5 shoes to warm up before his first playoff game.
Now, the crowd really had no excuse not to participate.
The music slowed down as she gathered herself on the court. Fans throughout the arena began recording the moment on their cell phones for posterity.
Everyone knew – or at least believed – they were about to witness history.
There aren’t many firsts left for Vembanyama, but this first playoff game was as important for him as it was for a city that has waited seven years to return to the postseason. Fans had never waited more than a year in the 53 years since the franchise moved to San Antonio.
“When I first stepped on the court, even for warmups, I felt the atmosphere was different,” Wembanyama said. “Everyone was ready. The fans were ready. It was probably the most excitement I’ve seen in this area this year.”
Vembanyama met more than this moment. He solved it with the kind of power that only his light 7-foot-4-inch frame could generate once he achieved top speed. His final line — 35 points on 13-of-21 shooting with five 3-pointers, five rebounds and two blocks — tells only part of the story of the Spurs’ Game 1 win portland trail blazers.
Yes, he broke Tim Duncan’s franchise record for points in a playoff debut. Yes, the Trail Blazers were 0-for-11 on shots where he was the primary defender.
but this is How He accomplished feats with ease that stunned the rest of the league at what he could do over the next few decades – and how little other teams could do to stop him.
duncan and robinson Sat in row 10 on Sunday night to watch Wembanyama make his playoff debut. Both have welcomed and mentored him since he arrived in San Antonio three years ago.
But no Hall of Famer has made a play quite like Wembanyama’s six-and-a-half minutes a game.
Vembanyama gets the rebound from A deni avdija Miss, looked towards the court and saw the light of day. In these situations the centers have to pass the ball to the guards. But no such rule applies to Vembanyama. If he sees a spot, the Spurs count on him to initiate the offense. He is 22 years old and 7 feet 4 inches tall.
It’s really something different to see a tall man dribbling so fast and so well from coast to coast. It’s even more surreal to see a guy who dribbles behind his back, weave into the lane away from defensive pressure, take two steps toward the rim and throw down a thumping dunk as Wembanyama did a few seconds later.
Duncan and Robinson were as amazed by the play as the crowd. NBC cameras captured the Hall of Famers clapping and smiling in amusement.
“It’s something you know he’s capable of,” Spurs center luke cornet Said later. “But it’s also something we’ve never seen before.”
Vembanyama practices such drives during his warmups before every game. He will throw the ball to the basket, grab rebounds, survey the floor and increase speed while dribbling.
Player development coaches John Harris and Curtis Lewis wait for him as he crosses half court. Harris, a burly forward who has played in the G League and professionally in Germany, Canada and Argentina, defends him at first, hitting him so hard that he veers off his path. Lewis, a small guard who played collegiately at Rockhurst University and Flagler College, doubles him near the 3-point line.
Vembanyama never picks up his dribble. He either splits the double-team, spins around him or Eurosteps through the key.
He saves thunderous dunks for games. And it brings the house down every time.
“Did I Dunk It?” Vembanyama asked after the game. It appears he doesn’t remember the game that will surely go down as one of his first playoff games. “I’ll have to look again.”
as latest Among the line of big men the Spurs selected with the No. 1 pick, Wembanyama will always be paired with Robinson and Duncan, both of whom also shined in their playoff debuts. But it is another generational superstar who Wembley was being compared to on Sunday.
twenty years ago, Lebron James Played its first playoff game for cleveland cavaliersFinished with 32 points, 11 rebounds and 11 assists in the win washington wizards. At the time, James was the third player in NBA history to record a triple-double in his playoff debut.
Wembanyama couldn’t match that feat, but he was the 13th player to score at least 35 points in his first taste of playoff action. Similar to James, the Spurs’ big man played his first playoff game in his third season. Wembanyama is the same age as James – a year after his playoff debut – leading the Cavs to the NBA Finals, coincidentally against Duncan and the Spurs.
After that Finals, which ended in a four-game sweep to give San Antonio its fourth title, Duncan famously pulled James aside and told him it would soon be his league.
Nearly two decades later, at the age of 41, James is still rewriting history, but Vembanyama’s show Sunday proves it won’t take long for that to end. His League instead of LeBron.
trail blazers guard junior holiday An attempt was made to delay that takeover on Sunday night. On the first play of the game, the veteran guard knocked Vembanyama to the ground as he passed through the lane. As the only Trail Blazers player with championship experience, it was the responsibility of Holiday to welcome the young Frenchman into the physicality of the playoff stage.
Vembanyama came back, caught the ball on the wing, drove to the lane and missed a floater.
“I think he was a little more excited than usual,” Spurs teammate De’Aaron Fox Said. “Everyone is nervous, but I don’t think these tremors lasted longer than 30 seconds.”
In fact. After that first possession, Vembanyama organized itself by locking down defensively.
“Our defense is our best offense,” Spurs coach Mitch Johnson said. “The more we commit to that goal, then you start to see waves of talent and athleticism and our offense.”
It has become Johnson’s shorthand for describing what is indescribable about Vembanyama. Johnson said “talent” rather than “his talent” because he knows Wembanyama does not want to be left out in any way. Nights like Monday, when Wembanyama earned what will surely be the first of many Defensive Player of the Year awards, are important but not a reason to create a special personal celebration.
In Spursian fashion, Wembanyama decided not to hold a separate press conference Monday night, and instead will speak before Tuesday’s Game 2 against the Trail Blazers.
appreciated culture Gregg Popovich, the Hall of Fame coach he created in San Antonio, who retired last year, was everywhere Sunday night. Collective joy and participation in the stands. Multi-generational support from the old guard. It was inevitable and unbreakable, as it has been for almost 40 years.
Duncan, Robinson, Manu Ginobili and Sean Elliott were among the Popovich-era players in attendance for Wambayama’s playoff debut.
Popovich was watching from a suite with his longtime assistant coach and friend, Brett Brown. On Monday, Popovich attended Spurs practice and worked with individual players on the court for more than an hour.
“The main thing I learned from Pop is to be unselfish,” the Spurs guard says. stephen castle Said. “I feel like he epitomizes what he did and the culture that he created for this organization.”
Cassel played only a few weeks of his rookie campaign last season under Popovich before the Hall of Fame head coach suffered a mild stroke before a game in November 2024. But Cassel still sees Popovich every day at the team’s facility, along with Duncan and Ginobili.
“They walk like normal people,” Castle said. “It’s weird. They’re legends, walking around like they’re just normal, everyday people.”
It was always like that in San Antonio. The team took its personality from the famously polite Duncan.
This group of Spurs is made in the image of Vembanyama, and like their leader, they are more celebratory, open and charismatic.
“Tim, Manu, Tony [Parker]They were like, ‘Don’t ask about me,'” said Portland coach Tiago Splitter, who played with Duncan, Ginobili and Parker from 2010 to 2015.[Wembanyama] “He’s very open about who he is.”
After games, Wembanyama surrounds the team near midcourt and helps choose which player should have the honor of playing drums with the Jackals, a Spurs fan club that Wembanyama has embraced.
Sunday night, sixth year ahead Devin Vassellwhose 15 points and two blocks helped the Spurs take the lead in the third quarter, was selected for the honor.
“It was not my choice, but it was my suggestion,” Vembanyama said. “We always try to focus on the person who deserves it.”
But after victory, Vembanyama created this tradition phoenix sun before Christmas. It reminded him of what his favorite football club, Paris Saint-Germain, does to honor the hero of the match and celebrate with its fans.
It was Vembanyama’s right to play the drums to celebrate victory in Game 1. He was the best player on the field, as he is most nights. But in true Spurs fashion, like his superstar predecessors, he avoided the spotlight.
Duncan and Robinson stayed until Vassell finished leading the post-game cheers, then quietly walked off the field.
Vembanyama said that he paid attention to them when they were shown on the big screen during the second half.
“It was the loudest the fans could hear in the entire game,” he said, smiling. “Seeing both of them and the recognition they got from the fans was amazing.”
He knows their history and what they have achieved together. The foundation he created and carried forward. From the moment he stepped foot in San Antonio and was anointed as the torchbearer of the Spurs dynasty, Wembanyama leaned into its embrace without being affected by it.
“I wouldn’t say weight,” Wembanyama thought after the game. “I would say it feels safe. It feels like if you travel, there are a lot of hands ready to hold you. From day one, it’s felt like that.”
