It only took the Spurs one game to shut down narrative fans are sick of hearing

With Game 1 of the NBA playoffs in the books for the San Antonio Spurs, critics can now put to rest a frustrating narrative. For months Spurs fans have had to hear about this team being fool's gold.

However, they had a strong showing in Game 1 of their first-round playoff series against the Portland Trail Blazers. Not to discount the Blazers, but San Antonio drawing them in the first round gives them the perfect opportunity to gain postseason experience.

It also allows them to build towards tougher playoff opponents. Portland, to their credit, is a top 12 defense and has an all-NBA-caliber player in Deni Avdija.

That gives San Antonio a taste of what to expect should they advance in the postseason.

The Spurs are gaining valuable playoff experience in real time

The Silver and Black's lack of experience has been questioned, but that discounts how great they've been this season. It also underestimates them since their young core consists of three players who are all 22 or younger.

Sure, Victor Wembanyama, Stephon Castle, and Dylan Harper all have just one game of postseason experience. However, what critics failed to recognize is that they are each so young that they are rapidly improving in season. That is almost unprecedented for a title contender.

The longer the Spurs' season goes, the tougher this team will be to beat. Each of them is gaining valuable playoff experience in real time ahead of a potential matchup against the Denver Nuggets and Oklahoma City Thunder.

A rapidly improving young core offsets the Spurs' lack of experience

Both teams obviously have more experience than San Antonio. Nevertheless, the Silver and Black shouldn't be discounted just because they are less experienced.

Assuming San Antonio faces Portland, Denver, and then the Thunder in the playoffs, they will be facing a tougher team each round. That gives them the opportunity to improve as the quality of competition escalates.

It's an added benefit of having home court advantage with San Antonio avoiding the notoriously difficult 3-6 or 4-5 playoff series matchups. Those playoff matchups tend to be far more competitive because those teams are more evenly matched.

San Antonio avoids that while having a home court advantage for the first two rounds and if they were to make the NBA Finals. Most inexperienced teams don't have the benefit of home court.

Nor do they have a core that is dramatically improving in real time. After picking up their first playoff win, the Spurs will gain more and more experience with each passing game and shut up critics in the process.

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