Victor Wembanyama made an early exit from San Antonio’s surprise 103-106 playoff loss the Portland Trail Blazers on Wednesday AEST after suffering a head injury during the second quarter.
French superstar Wembanyama was ruled out of the remainder of the game after stumbling and banging his head on the hardwood following a collision with Portland’s Jrue Holiday.
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Wembanyama looked dazed as he lay on the floor before slowly getting to his feet and jogging off court to the locker room.
The Spurs later confirmed Wembanyama had entered the concussion protocol and would play no further part in game two of the Western Conference playoff clash.
He had scored five points, collected four rebounds, provided one assist and made one block in 11 minutes before the incident.
The 22-year-old will now face a race against the clock to be passed fit to play in game three in Portland on Saturday Australian time.
The NBA’s concussion protocols enforce a mandatory 48-hour stand down period.
A player must then prove they are symptom free by undertaking a series of tests, and then be given the all clear by the team doctor as well as the Director of the NBA Concussion Program, Dr. Jeff Kutcher.
The injury occurred just a day after he was named the NBA’s defensive player of the year.
Wembanyama scored 35 points in San Antonio’s game one victory over Portland – beating Tim Duncan’s franchise record for the most points on playoff debut.
The second seed Spurs certainly felt Wembanyama’s absence as Portland overcame a one-point three-quarter time deficit to level up the series at 1-1.
The Spurs had the chance to send the game to overtime in the final five seconds, but stellar defence from Australia’s Matisse Thybulle helped ensure that Devin Vassell’s three-point attempt from the corner missed.
Thybulle played ten minutes off the bench and despite not scoring a point, contributed an assist, a rebound and a block.
Scoot Henderson starred for the Trailblazers with 31 points, while Holiday came up one assist shy of a double-double with 16 points and nine assists as well as five rebounds.
“Basketball is a game of runs, and the basketball gods are always gonna repay the ones that play the game right,” Henderson told NBC television afterwards.
Toumani Camara was only two rebounds short of a double-double, having also scored ten points.
Robert Williams III was also pivotal off the bench with 11 points and nine rebounds.
For the Spurs, Stephon Castle (18 points and eight rebounds), De’Aaron Fox (17 points) and Vassell (16 points and 12 rebounds) tried their best to fill the Wembenyama-sized hole in the second half.
– LeBron leads Lakers to 2-0 lead –
LeBron James scored a game-high 28 points as the Los Angeles Lakers successfully defended their home court in a 101-94 game two victory against the Houston Rockets.
In the absence of the franchise’s two leading scorers Luka Doncic and Austin Reaves, James led the way for the Lakers to ensure they head to Houston with a 2-0 series lead.
The 41-year-old had eight rebounds and seven assists, team highs in both categories, and added to his ever-expanding highlight reel with several dunks that had their home crowd off the feet.
James was strongly supported at the offensive end by Marcus Smart (25 points) and Luke Kennard (23).
It was defensively where the Lakers were arguably most impressive, however.
Kevin Durant put up 23 points for the Rockets, but only scored three points in the second half as Rui Hachimura was often supported by a teammate to double-team Durant and keep the superstar quiet.
“As hard as we played in game one, we knew we had to double that in game two,” James said.
“They were going to come in with desperation, so we had to be even more desperate. I thought we played a hell of a game.
“Our own mindset now is focused on game three,” the 41-year-old NBA icon added. “We know we’re going into a hostile environment. Guys tend to play better at home than they do on the road so we have to be ready for that.”
– Sixers bounce back –
In the Eastern Conference playoffs, Tyrese Maxey and VJ Edgecombe combined for 59 points as the Philadelphia 76ers scored a series-leveling 111-97 victory on the road over the Boston Celtics.
Edgecombe made six-of-10 three-point attempts before finishing with 30 points, 10 rebounds and two assists in a stunning victory for the Sixers, who had trailed 26-13 early in the first quarter before rallying.
Maxey was also lethal from long-range, making five three-pointers on his way to a 29-point haul.
The bounce-back victory came after the Sixers were thrashed 123-91 in game one on Sunday, after a performance that Philadelphia coach Nick Nurse lambasted as “absolutely unacceptable.”
Nurse was unsurprisingly happier with his team’s winning display on Tuesday. “I thought we just played much better team defense tonight,” said Nurse, who also saluted his team’s resolve after Boston surged into an early double-digit lead.
“I think we did a great job of just taking that punch,” Nurse said. “They were spectacular to start, but we just hung in there. I said ‘Listen, they’re pretty great right now, let’s believe that they’re not going to be this great the whole game, and just hang in there’. And our guys did.” Jaylen Brown led Boston’s scoring with 36 points but Jayson Tatum was the only other Celtics player to make double figures with 19 points. The Celtics made just 35-of-89 shots from the field throughout the game.
“You have to be able to score in close games against a team like that,” Celtics head coach Joe Mazzulla said. “They made more shots than us down the stretch.” With the series knotted at 1-1, game three takes place in Philadelphia on Friday