Victor Wembanyama of the San Antonio Spurs holds his head after falling to the court against the Portland Trail Blazers in the first half of Game Two.
The star centre’s concussion, suffered in the second quarter of Game 2 on Tuesday, is one factor affecting the Spurs’ chances for success in these play-offs.
The series is tied at 1-1 after Portland won Game 2, 106-103.
Since then, San Antonio reserve forward Keldon Johnson was named NBA Sixth Man of the Year, with the award announcement coming two days after Wembanyama won Defensive Player of the Year.
With Wembanyama likely out for Game 3 because of the NBA’s concussion protocol, the other Spurs, including Johnson, will be called on to pick up some of the slack, both in scoring and intensity.
“We know everybody is going to have to step up,” Spurs forward Devin Vassell said. “That’s a huge void to fill. We can’t get bogged down by it.”
But Johnson has mostly struggled over the first two games of the series, totaling only 10 points on 4-of-11 shooting while averaging 19 minutes of court time.
“It’s the playoffs – even if we didn’t play a lot without (Wembanyama in the regular season) – we got to figure it out,” he said. “We have to just stick to what we do. Honestly, we fall back on our habits.”
Wembanyama, while in the league’s concussion protocol, travelled with the team to Portland after going through workouts with no ill effects on Thursday morning.
“He’s looking good,” San Antonio coach Mitch Johnson said. “The update is that he is following each protocol and he is progressing and will travel with the team.”
Lost in all of the speculation on Wembanyama is the dynamic play of the Trail Blazers in these series. At the forefront of Portland’s charge has been the production of forward Deni Avdija (team-high 30 points in Game 1) and guard Scoot Henderson (team-high 31 in Game 2).
Friday’s clash is the Trail Blazers’ first home playoff game since June 3, 2021.
“We did a great job on Tuesday, and we’re going back to Portland with our home crowd,” Avdija said. “It was going to be loud, and we love playing in front of them.”
Meanwhile in play-off action on Thursday, CJ McCollum hit the game-winner with 12.5 seconds remaining as the Atlanta Hawks pulled off a nail-biting 109-108 victory over New York to take a 2-1 lead.
The Toronto Raptors also pulled away late in a 126-104 triumph over the Cleveland Cavaliers that cut the deficit in their series to 2-1.
The Minnesota Timberwolves, meanwhile, edged 2-1 ahead of the Denver Nuggets with a 113-96 win. REUTERS, AFP
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