It’s Time For Playoff Basketball: San Antonio Spurs Vs Portland Trail Blazers, Game 3

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Game 2 didn’t go off as planned, in fact it turned into a nightmare for the Silver and Black when Victor Wembanyama tripped when Jrue Holiday pulled the chair on a drive to the basket and hit his head hard on the Frost Bank Center’s hardwood early in the second quarter. Victor suffered a concussion, and it looked like he might have briefly lost consciousness. The Spurs could have folded after watching their best player have to be taken to the locker room with a serious injury, but they continued to play hard and were able to take a double digit lead midway through the fourth quarter. Unfortunately for the home team, they could not hold on as the Spurs offense went cold for the last 5 minutes and the Blazers made clutch shot after clutch shot. Portland is not a good three-point shooting team, but you couldn’t tell that by their late game performance, as Scoot Henderson played out of his mind for the entire fourth quarter. Conventional wisdom is that you only need to worry about Deni Avdija on offense, but they got great performances from Jrue Holiday and Toumani Camara as they took a three point lead with just a few seconds left to play. Devin Vassell had an opportunity to tie the game with time running out, but he was well guarded, and the shot missed, allowing the team from Rip City to walk away from San Antonio with a 1-1 series tie in the first pair of games, securing home court advantage for the rest of the series.

Victor Wembanyama has been making an excellent recovery from his initial concussion diagnosis, and he was allowed to travel with the team to Portland yesterday. He’s listed as questionable on the injury report this morning, and it’s unclear whether he’ll be cleared to play in time for tonight’s late-starting game. My guess is that even if he were officially able to enter tonight’s game, the Spurs may be reluctant to throw him out without having participated in practice since his injury. In my mind, it’s more likely that we’ll see him play on Sunday, and that would be subject to his continued improvement and a positive evaluation from the doctors that are monitoring his condition.

The Spurs should be prepared to play tonight without the super tall French guy, and if they play their normal game, they should be able to win tonight without his services. Luke Kornet will be fine against the Portland bigs, but it gets dicey when he has to sit. Mitch Johnson has shown that he likes to go small with Carter Bryant when Luke is out, and that has had mixed results so far. We might see some Kelly Olynyk in non-garbage time minutes to limit the time for small lineups. Stephon Castle and De’Aaron Fox will have to step up tonight after being somewhat inefficient in Game 2, especially late in Game 2. Dylan Harper has been effective, and doesn’t get too rattled by the physical play of Portland defenders and inconsistent calls from the refs, including a double dribble call that was totally a figment of the official’s imagination. The team will have to keep their composure as the Blazers will throw everything they have at them to try and take a lead in the series. It’s up to Mitch to have the team mentally prepared and ready to handle adversity. It’s a test, and I think it’s one that they’ll pass. There are at least three games left in this series, and each one of them is an opportunity for the team to learn. LET’S GO SPURS!

Game Prediction:

Scoot Henderson’s Magic Johnson votive candle burns out during shootaround, and he goes back to playing like just a guy for the rest of the series after his atypical game 2 showing.

San Antonio Spurs vs Portland Trail Blazers, First Round, Game 3
April 21, 2026 | 9:30 PM CT
Streaming: Prime
TV: Prime
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