{"id":714099,"date":"2026-04-19T18:22:02","date_gmt":"2026-04-19T18:22:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/714099\/"},"modified":"2026-04-19T18:22:02","modified_gmt":"2026-04-19T18:22:02","slug":"western-conference-first-round-how-to-watch-spurs-vs-trail-blazers-game-1","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/714099\/","title":{"rendered":"Western Conference First Round: How to Watch Spurs vs. Trail Blazers Game 1"},"content":{"rendered":"

SAN ANTONIO \u2014 For the first time in seven years, the San Antonio Spurs<\/a> are back in the playoffs. Keldon Johnson has been waiting for this moment for much longer.<\/p>\n

“I’m more than ready,” Johnson said on Sunday. “I can’t wait to get out there and perform.”<\/p>\n

San Antonio drew the Portland Trail Blazers in the Western Conference First Round Tuesday night after Portland completed a comeback victory on the road against the Phoenix Suns. Since then, the Spurs have been preparing for a fast-paced, aggressive team.<\/p>\n

“They want to be very physical,” Devin Vassell said on Wednesday. “They like to get up under you. That’s one thing that we have to handle: their pressure.”<\/p>\n

\"San<\/p>\n

Apr 8, 2026; San Antonio, Texas, USA; San Antonio Spurs guard Dylan Harper (2) and Portland Trail Blazers forward Toumani Camara (33) battle for a rebound during the first half at Frost Bank Center. | Scott Wachter-Imagn Images<\/p>\n

Leading Portland’s offensive charge is Deni Avdija, who \u2014 through three games against the Spurs \u2014 has averaged 31.7 points, 7.3 rebounds and eight assists on 55 percent shooting from the field and 53 percent shooting from 3. He also thrives with pace.<\/p>\n

In that sense, the key to slowing him down, for the Spurs, will be\u00a0literally\u00a0slowing him down.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s obviously the head of the snake for them,” Stephon Castle said after shootaround on Friday, citing Avdija’s offensive prowess. “He\u2019ll be a focal point for us.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Trail Blazers, meanwhile, are preparing to face Victor Wembanyama. A calf strain, hyperextended knee and rib contusion made sure Sunday’s game will be their first look.<\/p>\n

Wembanyama’s 25 points per game this season<\/a> paired with 3.1 blocks as the NBA’s two-time reigning blocks leader forces opposing offenses to adjust their strategy. Smaller, more physical attempts to stifle his production have worked best, as Phoenix showed early in the season, but placing focus on him opens the court elsewhere.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s different things we can do, of course,\u201d Portland’s acting coach Tiago Splitter, a former Spur, said. \u201cHe presents some difficulties … (but) we have different cards to play with. We can go small, we can go double big, we can do different things on the court.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Portland<\/p>\n

Apr 14, 2026; Phoenix, Arizona, USA; Portland Trail Blazers acting coach Tiago Splitter against the Phoenix Suns during the play-in rounds of the 2026 NBA Playoffs at Mortgage Matchup Center. | Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images<\/p>\n

However Portland plans to stop Wembanyama, it will need to remain conscious of the rest of the Spurs’ offensive weapons \u2014 all of which are healthy.<\/p>\n

Dylan Harper, who had been dealing with a left thumb injury to close the regular season, brushed off any notion that it was affecting his jump shot. Wembanyama, meanwhile, said he used the week off the return to regular-season form.<\/p>\n

On the Trail Blazers’ side, only Damian Lillard, as he’s been all year, will sit out with a torn Achilles. His teammates are preparing for the rowdy city of San Antonio all the same. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s going to be a good atmosphere,” Avdija said inside an empty Frost Bank Center Sunday morning. “That\u2019s what we like as players. It makes it a better game.”<\/p>\n

Here’s everything you need to know about how to watch the matchup:<\/p>\n

WHO:#7 Portland Trail Blazers (0-0)#2 San Antonio Spurs (0-0)WHEN:Sunday, April 19 (Tipoff 8 p.m. Central)WHERE:Frost Bank Center, San Antonio, TexasHOW TO WATCH:INJURY REPORT:<\/p>\n

POR:<\/p>\n

Damian Lillard (Achilles) – OUT<\/p>\n

SAS:<\/p>\n

Jordan McLaughlin (ankle) – OUT\"\"Add us as a preferred source on GoogleFollow<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"SAN ANTONIO \u2014 For the first time in seven years, the San Antonio Spurs are back in the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":714100,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3784],"tags":[7,601,6,687,471,3967,1617],"class_list":{"0":"post-714099","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-portland-trail-blazers","8":"tag-basketball","9":"tag-blazers","10":"tag-nba","11":"tag-portland","12":"tag-portland-trail-blazers","13":"tag-portlandtrailblazers","14":"tag-trail-blazers"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/116432769052335270","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/714099","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=714099"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/714099\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/714100"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=714099"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=714099"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=714099"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}