Wembanyama just answered NBA world's burning question in historic fashion

Back in April 1998, the greatest power forward of all time, Tim Duncan, made his playoff debut in Phoenix, Arizona, to the tune of 32 points in a six-point win over the Suns. That was the franchise high until Victor Wembanyama came through and dropped 35 on the Portland Trail Blazers to get the Spurs their first postseason win since 2019.

The visiting team struggled to contain Vic, and the NBA community finally caught a glimpse of what the Alien is capable of when the stakes are raised. Portland will go back to the drawing board now and adjust their strategy. Former Spurs champion and current enemy head coach Tiago Splitter will likely demand more physicality out of his team. That strategy will only go so far, though.

Wembanyama's current peak is already unstoppable

The Trail Blazers' plan B has been the primary game plan against San Antonio for the latter half of the NBA season. Teams with inferior talent often rely on mucking up the game to even the playing field. Fortunately for the Spurs, they've already become accustomed to some of that. As we saw tonight, the intensity is different, but it's not anything they shouldn't be able to handle with Vic leading the way.

The Frenchman is not intimidated by this moment. He's said it himself. He's dreamt of making it to the playoffs and winning a championship. The foundation for his display tonight was laid long ago. Observers who have followed his journey closely since he's been in the league are not surprised by his performance. If anything, I'm surprised it wasn't worse.

Wembanyama only had five rebounds. He averaged nearly 12 per game during the regular season. That's where you have to give Portland credit. They tried to control the paint as much as they could and had a modicum of success. Stephon Castle struggled to finish in the lane, and shots for De'Aaron Fox and Dylan Harper were just as tough.

San Antonio's guards still found a way to showcase their talent, though. Fox was knocking down jump shots, and Castle got to the free-throw line, going 8/8 from the charity stripe. These were all great contributions from a team that's gotten the job done by relying on each other all season long. But at the end of the day, it was the extraterrestrial who made the largest difference.

Wembanyama was hard to miss in the middle of the floor. Portland tried everything they could to pull him away from the basket, but it wasn't sustainable. Meanwhile, Vic put on a show in a way only he could—13/21 in his first playoff game is ridiculous, and 5/6 from three is sickening for a 7'5" guy. Good luck figuring out what to do with that.

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