Victor Wembanyama just turned 900-day-old concern into a laughable afterthought

It took about eight minutes of game time on Sunday night for Victor Wembanyama to calm the nerves of any Spurs fans who were concerned whether he could be the No. 1 scoring option on this team in the postseason. Granted, that was probably always a silly concern, but you can't blame fans for wanting to see something to believe it.

A little over 900 days after he was drafted by the Spurs, Wembanyama finally got his chance to play in front of a raucuous (and very beautifully color coordinated) San Antonio crowd, and he immediately put to bed the idea that he's more of a cog in the Spurs' offensive machine than the machine itself.

A 35-point outburst on 13-for-21 shooting and 5-for-6 from the 3-point line against a Blazers defense that ranked No. 3 in defensive rating after the All-Star break. This is not a cake walk, this is a legit defensive unit, and Wembanyama still controlled exactly which shots he would take — and made well over half of them.

Victor Wembanyama played with an edge in first playoff game

The best way to get over nerves is by not letting the nerves even sink in, and that's what Wemby did on Sunday. He was ultra-aggressive hunting his shot from the opening tip, making sure to get on the board first and then let the game come to him after that. It's not usually how players operate in their first postseason experience, but nothing this guy does is typical.

It's probably not fair to expect Wembanyama to average 35 points per game all postseason long. There will be games when opposing coaches gameplan to take the ball out of his hands, especially after how aggressively he played in Game 1 against the Blazers. But the idea that he won't be able to take over games offensively in the postseason didn't even last a quarter. He was hitting fadeaway corner 3-pointers. Just madness.

If you want to nitpick (which you shouldn't), Wembanyama's defensive load in this Blazers series won't be too heavy, as they don't have any big men who create offense on their own. As the playoffs progress, and the Spurs have to deal with the Nikola Jokic's of the world (okay, specifically Nikola Jokic) he'll have to use much more energy on that end. Who knows if he can keep up this offensive production while being asked so much on the other end. But in the meantime, we saw an aggressive, shot-hunting, highly efficient Victor Wembanyama in his first playoff game. It's a dream start for fans.

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