On Tuesday evening, the San Antonio Spurs officially won their first playoff series since 2017 with a comfortable home victory in Game 5 against the Portland Trail Blazers, punching their ticket to the second round in the process. It was a relatively quiet game from star Victor Wembanyama in this one, who finished with 17 points and mostly let his Spurs teammates do the heavy lifting.
Luckily, De’Aaron Fox was up to the challenge, scoring 21 points to go along with nine assists and some solid defense in the win, and finally picking up the first playoff series win of his career in the process.
Fox was acquired last year at the trade deadline from the Sacramento Kings in a move that fans hoped would give Wembanyama the second star he needed to take the Spurs to the next level. However, considering the emergence of Stephon Castle and the drafting of Dylan Harper, there was some question as to how Mitch Johnson and company would juggle a lineup featuring three relatively small guards.
However, this year, that hasn’t been an issue, as San Antonio has seen solid production out of all three guards, including Fox, who played well for the most part in this series against the Blazers. Throughout the season, there was some question about Fox’s ability as a closer, considering some late game meltdowns he had, most recently against the Denver Nuggets in a highly contested regular season game.
That wasn’t a problem in the series against the Blazers, however, as Fox delivered timely buckets when his team needed them and didn’t try to do too much.
The Spurs will now gear up for a second round series against either the Nuggets or the Minnesota Timberwolves, who are headed for a Game 6 in their series.
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