Victor Wembanyama already revealed the blueprint for Spurs' closeout game

The Frost Bank Center should be electric, like Zeus himself were powering the grid for Game 5 tonight in anticipation of what's going to happen when that ball tips off. Closeout games can be some of the most difficult to win if you're ill-prepared, but Victor Wembanyama has shown that his preparation is unmatched. He's been impossible to deal with in two full games he's played—more is on the way.

If there's one thing The Alien has proven through his years, it's that he's a student of the game. He understands the importance of putting teams away when you have them on the ropes. We should all expect the Trail Blazers to come out fighting like a wounded animal, but it will mean little.

This series is ending tonight, and Wembanyama's displays to this point provided the necessary data for us to arrive at this conclusion.

Wembanyama is playing like the best in the world

We've gotten two full games from the Silver and Black superstar, and he was a force in both. When you average the numbers, you get 31 points, 9 rebounds, 5 blocks, 2 assists, and 2 steals per game with a 71% true shooting percentage. If the postseason is where you truly stake your claim as the best in the world, Wembanyama has thrown down the gauntlet.

The only other player you'd put in the conversation based on what we're seeing right now is Shai Gilgeous-Alexander. OKC's frontman is putting up 34 points, 8 assists, 4 rebounds, 1 steal, and 1 block. He's got a 67.8% true shooting percentage, and the Thunder just eliminated the Phoenix Suns in four games.

Nikola Jokic deserves to be mentioned here. He had a ridiculous regular season, but he's been disappointing through the postseason thus far. Other than his Game 5 showing, where he finally got going, The Joker has been restrained like a petulant child by Rudy Gobert. Denver is fighting for their playoff lives as a result of his inability to win that matchup. That hurts his status just a bit in the moment.

But back to Portland. Not having a guy anywhere near this caliber puts them in the extremely unfavorable position of being Wembanyama's crash-test dummy. He's passing the test of his first playoffs with flying colors, and if he's going to play like this, there won't be much of a margin for error for opponents.

Portland has already seen both versions of Victor Wembanyama—the perimeter sniper and the paint enforcer; they couldn't do anything with either variant. That’s the blueprint for tonight. If the Blazers take one away, he’ll lean into the other. Either way, they're leaving with a loss. That’s what makes Game 5 feel less like a battle and more like a formality.

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