Trail Blazers learned a hard Wembanyama lesson at the worst possible time

Victor Wembanyama wasn't a basketball player last night. He was an experience. Portland didn't get a chance to see the Alien all season. He missed all three regular-season meetings between the two ball clubs, so there was no way to prepare for what they were about to witness. Funny enough, that didn't stop their fans from making some outlandish claims before the series jumped off.

Laughable. There's no way to simulate the things that Wembanyama is capable of, so if you don't get game reps against him, he can completely overwhelm you. That's what happened to Portland last night. They tried a variation of strategies, and none of them worked because Wemby wouldn't let them. That's what superstars do, and they don't have one of those on their side.

Vic is a supercomputer on the floor. As he's gained more experience, he's learned to adjust to different defensive looks on the fly. So, even if you have faced the gargantuan king before, he can torch you, but if you don't have any, you have no shot. Now the adjustment game begins.

Portland will find it hard to stop every player on the Spurs' roster

The 7'4" Frenchman is the tip of the iceberg, but there is immense mass to contend with beneath the surface. Tiago Splitter and his crew have two choices now: they can overcommit to stopping Wembanyama and hope the other players don't beat them, or they can increase their intensity but still try to guard Vic mainly with one player, hoping the Alien can't keep up this pace.

San Antonio's superstar can't go 5/6 from deep every game, right? Probably not. Although he doesn't have to shoot that well to make that strong offensive impact. The latter option is only the best one if the rest of the Spurs prove they can continuously take advantage of their open looks. As one of the best three-point shooting teams in the league to close the season, the odds of that are high.

Shout out to Devin Vassell, De'Aaron Fox, Julian Champagnie, and Vic for their highly efficient shooting displays. Coach Splitter (that's fun to say) will likely opt to roll coverage to Wemby with emphasis on closing out on Vassell and Champ. Theoretically, the additional space will allow the other players who didn't shoot as well to get going.

Fox had a great shooting night, but he has a lower percentage from deep overall. He'll have to keep proving he can be consistent from range. If Stephon Castle and Dylan Harper start knocking their threes down again, every game in this series will be a blowout because at that point, you're completely helpless. It forced you to guard everyone, and Wemby continues to dominate.

If it makes you feel any better, though, you were hopeless heading into this matchup. It's not your fault. You had no opportunity to prepare for this, and to only get that experience now that the playoffs are here? That's horrific timing. But let's be honest, you never stood a chance anyway. That is what was exposed last night.

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