Victor Wembanyama starred on his NBA play-off debut as the San Antonio Spurs beat the Portland Trail Blazers 111-98.
Wembanyama, one in every of three contenders for the Most Valuable Player award, scored a game-high 35 factors, together with 21 within the first half, as the Spurs received sport one of many best-of-seven sequence.
“It’s good to get this one out of the way,” the Frenchman mentioned. “We just tried to do the things we’ve been doing all year and stay solid.
“There was strain on us to win the primary sport, nevertheless it wasn’t that a lot strain if we simply stayed to the plan.”
Elsewhere, defending champions Oklahoma City Thunder and the Boston Celtics both made dominant starts to the post-season.
The Thunder – the number one seeds in the Western Conference – thrashed the Phoenix Suns 119-84, led by last year’s Finals MVP Shai Gilgeous-Alexander who had 25 points, seven assists and four rebounds.
Jayson Tatum scored 25 points with 11 rebounds and seven assists – and Jaylen Brown added 26 points – as the second-seeded Celtics beat the Philadelphia 76ers 123-91.
Meanwhile, the Orlando Magic stunned Eastern Conference top seeds Detroit Pistons 112-101 to take a 1-0 lead in their seven-game series.
Victory for the eighth-seeded Magic, who qualified for the play-offs via the play-in tournament, extends an unwelcome NBA record for the Pistons, who have not won a post-season game at home for 11 matches dating back to 2008.
Forward Paolo Banchero starred with 23 points, nine rebounds and four assists, to help the Magic overshadow Pistons point guard Cade Cunningham’s play-off best haul of 39 points.
“[We] did not come out with the proper vitality, gave them life early on,” said Cunningham. “Then we needed to cope with that for the remainder of the sport.
“There’s no confidence drop from us. It’s going to be a long, fun series.”
