The San Antonio Spurs powered into the Western Conference semi-finals last night on the back of a brilliant individual performance: and for once it was not delivered by Victor Wembanyama.
Wembanyama was solid in defense but it was De’Aaron Fox who stole the show, scoring 13 of his team-high 21 points in the final quarter to inspire San Antonio to a 114-95 Game Five win over the Portland Trail Blazers.
That secured the Spurs a 4-1 series win, their first in the postseason since 2017.
“It’s taken a while, but it definitely feels good,” said Fox, who added nine assists. “We felt like we put ourselves into position to win [in] all five of these games. There are times we go through a dry spell or have turnovers. Those things happen. I try not to necessarily fix those things myself. For me, especially in the fourth, it was just [important to] continue to move. I was denied a lot this series. They were physical with me off the ball. I had a good fourth quarter and we tried to put them away.”
Team-mate Julian Champagnie described Fox as the team’s “closer” and coach Mitch Johnson was also full of praise for the 2023/23 NBA Clutch Player of the Year.
“He was a Clutch Player of the Year for a reason,” Johnson said. “He’s in a different situation now in terms of at times having the basketball in his hands at that volume every single night in the fourth quarter. He may be as good as any player I’ve ever seen in balancing how to play off it, then when to go on it. And when he gets on it, he doesn’t mess around. When we help him with our organisation and spacing and give him space to operate, we’ll be even that much better. But he took over the game clearly again tonight.”
The Spurs now face the winner of the series between the Denver Nuggets and the Minnesota Timberwolves. The Timberwolves lead 3-2 ahead of Game Six.
Embiid frustrates Celtics to keep series alive
Joel Embiid poured in 33 points to keep the Philadelphia 76ers alive in their Eastern Conference series against the Boston Celtics.
The Celtics still lead 3-2 but couldn’t get the job done despite home court advantage as Embiid and Tyrese Maxey, who scored 25 points and added 10 rebounds, ensured there would be a Game 6 back in Philly tomorrow night.
“Obviously you don’t want to go home, so you do whatever it takes,” said Embiid. “I thought defensively we did a much better job, especially not overhelping as we did last game. And yeah, then offensively it becomes a little easier when you’re making shots. We definitely made more shots than we did last game. So that’s a good combination when you want to win a basketball game.”
Jaysun Tatum led Boston with 24 points and 16 rebounds but their challenge fizzled out in the fourth quarter as the Celtics missed their final 14 shots to go down with a whimper.
“First of all, give them credit,” said Tatum. “They played well. And yeah, a few looks that we felt good about that we just didn’t make. But sometimes that happens. You know, it’s just tough. Not scoring the way you want to puts a lot of pressure on your defense, and they made some plays at the other end.”
Knicks win Game 5 thanks to brilliant Brunson
The New York Knicks also hold a 3-2 lead over the Atlanta Hawks after a dominant 126-97 Game Five win at Madison Square Garden.
Jalen Brunson was the Knicks’ hero with 39 points as New York produced a second successive dominant showing after two one-point defeats.
“You’ve got to go through some adversity through the course of the year and see what you’re made of, see how you’ll respond,” Knicks coach Mike Brown said. “The guys have been through a lot so far this year and continue to go through it. They’ve been through it as a group. There’s nothing that will deter this group, this veteran group.”
Game Six is tomorrow night.
