Spurs claw past Trail Blazers, Victor Wembanyama & De'Aaron Fox have historic masterclass originally appeared on The Sporting News. Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here.

The San Antonio Spurs are the second team to advance to the second round of the NBA Playoffs. There was an attempt by the Portland Trail Blazers to come back late in the game but performances from Victor Wembanyama and De'Aaron Fox extinguished those hopes immediately. How great were their outputs in this  114-95 win?

To no one's surprise, Victor Wembanyama was the main reason why the Spurs are moving on to the second round of the NBA Playoffs. He scored 17 points by going 71.4% from the field, 50% from three-point range, and 100% in all of his free throw attempts. The Defensive Player of the Year proved that he was more than worthy of the title too. He grabbed 14 huge rebounds while also making life very hard for the Trail Blazers through his six blocks.

Wembanyama joins a long list of legends like Tim Duncan, Pau Gasol, Dwight Howard, and Dikembe Mutombo that have notched six blocks in an NBA Playoffs game. More than that, he and Isaiah Stewart are the only players in the 2026 NBA Playoffs who have gotten six or more blocks, per Basketball Reference.

De'Aaron Fox was also the other person who facilitated the downfall of the Trail Blazers. When Deni Avdija and Sidy Cissoko were leading the Trail Blazers to a fourth quarter run, Fox was the one who responded for the Spurs. He scored 13 points in the final quarter to prevent any chances of a comeback. Fox then finished with 21 points on a 57% field goal percentage and 40% clip from beyond the arc.

Fox also led all players in this Game 5 clash between the Spurs and Trail Blazers with his nine assists. Defensively, he also notched a steal and grabbed three rebounds to send themselves to the second round.

The Spurs are finally winning in the NBA Playoffs again, it's all because of unselfish stars like Wembanyama and Fox.