The playoff debut of Victor Wembanyama was galvanizing for San Antonio Spurs fans, captivating for neutral fans and absolutely terrifying for fans of other Western Conference contenders.
The unanimous Defensive Player of the Year in his third season lit up the Portland Trail Blazers in Game 1, scoring 35 points while going 5-for-6 from the three-point line and being his usual dominant self on the defensive end.
The Trail Blazers will look to have a better answer for the Frenchman on Tuesday night, as they hope to avoid going back to Portland 0-2 in the series.
In the nightcap, all eyes are on the availability of Kevin Durant, who was a surprising late scratch in game one of the Los Angeles Lakers – Houston Rockets series.
The Houston offense was absolutely rudderless without its best player, while LA found a savior in Luke Kennard, who scored 27 as the Lakers found a way to go up 1-0 despite missing two of their top three players.
After two absolute classics between the New York Knicks and Atlanta Hawks and the Denver Nuggets and Minnesota Timberwolves on Monday, tonight’s slate promises to keep up the thrilling non-stop action we’ve seen thus far this NBA Playoffs.
First Pick: San Antonio Spurs vs. Portland Trail Blazers – Under 220.5
Jordan Teller - The Sporting Tribune
Isaiah Jackson #23 of the LA Clippers lays the ball up past Victor Wembanyama #1 of the San Antonio Spurs during an NBA basketball game, Monday March 16, 2026 in Inglewood, Calif.
Rundown: This column hit on picking the under in the first game of this series, and is going back to that same well tonight.
The old adage of the NBA Playoffs is that role players play better at home, and we saw the flip side of that in Game 1.
Portland’s Toumani Camara, Donovan Clingan and Jrue Holiday shot a combined 8-of-29, as the Trail Blazers had just two starters in double figures.
All-Star Deni Avdija was sensational in his playoff debut, scoring 30 points on 12-for-21 shooting, but he was the only Trail Blazer who had any answer for the problems the Spurs defense presents.
The gap between the skill level of Portland’s auxiliary offensive creators and the Spurs’ suffocating defense is overwhelming.
San Antonio has held Portland under 102 points in three of their four meetings this season, and another tough day for the Trail Blazers offense should result in another low-scoring Spurs victory.
Second Pick: Los Angeles Lakers +5 over Houston Rockets
Rundown: Heading into game one, the expectation was that for the Lakers to have any chance in this series without Luka Doncic and Austin Reaves, LeBron James was going to have to turn back the clock with a vintage performance.
Instead, James settled in his role as a distributor, scoring 19 points while racking up 13 assists.
The offensive workload was light enough on James that he could still deliver on the defensive end, as LA stifled Houston’s offense sans its best player in Durant.
While the Rockets have Durant listed as a game-time decision for game two, it does not look like we will be seeing the two-time Finals MVP at full strength.
On Monday, Rockets head coach Ime Udoka had this to say on Durant’s injury. "The pain tolerance is one thing, but actually moving and feeling comfortable doing all the movements is going to be the biggest thing,” he said.
A hobbled Durant is not going to solve all of the Rockets offensive problems.
LA head coach JJ Redick has managed to pull out some impressive rim protection out of this new Lakers starting lineup in the wake of their two star injuries, as Rockets center Alperen Sengun missed 13 of his 19 shots in game one.
With Durant’s health a major question mark, the possibility of a James takeover game before this series heads back to Houston is high.
Expect a more dominant offensive performance from the NBA’s all-time leading scorer on Tuesday, resulting in another Lakers upset or at the very least, an LA cover.