Fans of the Portland Trail Blazers ought to count on to see some loopy issues when their staff battles the San Antonio Spurs in the first spherical of the 2026 NBA Playoffs. It will likely be their first look this yr at Spurs phenom Victor Wembanyama, who sat out all three common season conferences between the two groups.
The third-year famous person out of France led the NBA with 3.1 blocks per recreation and is a lock to win his first Defensive Player of the Year award. He will likely be disruptive to the Blazers offense, making life troublesome for Deni Avdija and the remainder of the Blazers every time they enterprise into the lane.
But Wembanyama has developed into rather more than a long-armed, rim-protecting monster, averaging 25.0 factors per recreation and scoring 30+ factors 18 occasions in 65 appearances (counting the NBA Cup Final, which didn’t rely in the standings).
In Friday’s episode of We Like the Blazers (at round the 33:00 mark), Blazers Edge editors Brandon Mullen and Conor Bergin mentioned the potential defensive methods the Blazers might use to sluggish Wembanyama down.
I feel we’re prone to see one situation they didn’t point out. It sounds insane, however hear me out. The Blazers ought to attempt placing one in all their smallest and oldest guys on the Spurs’ 22-year outdated, 7’4” middle.
Yes, senior citizen (by NBA requirements) Jrue Holiday, who will flip 36 throughout June’s NBA Finals and is formally listed at 6’4”, ought to guard Wembanyama.
Go again and watch the starting of every half of the Blazers’ 137-132 additional time loss to the Denver Nuggets on April sixth. Yes, the Blazers misplaced. And sure, Nikola Jokic completed the recreation with a triple-double. But when the Blazers had been capable of set their protection after made baskets or lifeless balls, they usually put Holiday on the Nuggets’ three-time MVP middle.
Holiday wasn’t simply guarding Jokic on the occasional ill-advised swap or when the protection needed to scramble. It was the recreation plan. Here’s the first play of the game. Holiday picks up Jokic whereas Clingan waits close to the basket.
The Blazers used this alignment to start out the recreation and went again to it at after halftime. When the Blazers might set their protection, Holiday picked Jokic up at the prime of the key. Jokic is a magician, but it surely’s exhausting for him to beat a participant like Holiday off the dribble. Jokic can theoretically shoot over the prime of a participant seven or eight inches shorter, however Holiday didn’t give him any house. Of course, the huge man might merely take the smaller defender underneath the basket, proper? Well, the Blazers had counters for that.
Here, Clingan sags again to assist when Jokic cuts.
And when Jokic backs Holiday down a couple of minutes later in this play, Clingan is ready on the again line.
In this third quarter play, Jokic tries to get even deeper put up place on Holiday, however Clingan is lurking to remove the go. Gordon flashes to the free throw line and Clingan doesn’t contest him on the catch. Instead, he stays again and does what he does greatest.
On this play, Holiday and Clingan swap when the Nuggets attempt to filter out the lane and draw Clingan away from the basket. Jokic is ready to rebound his personal miss and rating, however the technique was well-executed by the Blazers.
There are downsides, after all. But in opposition to nice groups, it’s important to decide your poison. To begin additional time, Gordon burns the Blazers with a corner three-pointer. On the play, Jokic backs Holiday into the lane and Clingan is compelled to assist. This time Gordon drifts all the method out to the nook. With the whole facet of the courtroom cleared out, he will get a vast open look.
The Blazers knew that Gordon would get a few of these open three-pointers. He made a few, however Splitter and the teaching employees had been keen to stay with that over the various. Jokic and Jamal Murray comprise one in all the deadliest two-man partnerships in the NBA, however the Blazers slowed it down considerably and gave themselves a probability to win. With Holiday defending Jokic at the prime of the key, he might merely swap on to Murray when he and Jokic bought into their pick-and-roll and hand-off actions. Murray’s man (normally Toumani Camara) might swap on to Jokic. The Blazers are fantastic with that final result.
Jokic and the Nuggets are the greatest offensive problem-solvers in the league and ultimately discovered sufficient scoring to win a shut recreation, however when the Blazers employed the Holiday-on-Jokic technique, the Nuggets offense had a little much less juice.
What About the Spurs Series?
Obviously, the Blazers might want to present Wembanyama and the Spurs a variety of totally different appears to be like over the course of Game 1 and as the collection progresses. Robert Williams III may have alternatives to play him straight up, Toumani Camara will take a flip, and Kris Murray appears to have earned the belief of the teaching employees. But don’t be stunned if the Blazers attempt the Holiday-on-Wembanyama method in a minimum of one in all the first two video games in San Antonio.
If they use this technique, it would solely be in spurts. But what would it not seem like and the way would it not differ from what they tried in opposition to Denver a few weeks in the past?
Jokic and Wembanyama clearly have totally different video games. Wembanyama is nowhere close to nearly as good of a passer as Jokic, however he’s a significantly better lob-finisher round the rim. But with Clingan round the basket and Holiday harassing each dribble, the Blazers might be able to coax him into some decrease share mid-range photographs and contested three-pointers.
With Clingan hovering close to the basket and getting ready to assist, the Blazers would seemingly give up some open three-pointers like they did in opposition to Gordon. The Spurs would love these to come back from Devin Vassell (38.4% on 6.4 makes an attempt per recreation), Julian Champagnie (38.1% on 6.2 makes an attempt per recreation) and Harrison Barnes (38.8% on 4.6 makes an attempt per recreation). All are good shooters, however two of the three will likely be suiting up in the playoffs for the first time.
The Blazers’ choice would most likely be to dare second-year guard Stephon Castle, Clingan’s former faculty teammate, to beat them from behind the arc. The knock on Castle is that he isn’t a dependable three-point shooter. He shot simply 28.5% from distance as a rookie final season, however improved to 33.2% this season. He bought sizzling after the All-Star break, making 41.7% of his threes. Is that actual? Or simply a sizzling streak? We’ll discover out quickly.
The Blazers are in the playoffs for the first time since 2021. They are huge underdogs in the collection. They don’t have anything to lose. What do you suppose? Should they struggle the Holiday-on-Wembanyama method for a few stretches in San Antonio?
