Category: Sports News

San Antonio Spurs star Victor Wembanyama was placed in the NBA’s concussion protocol after tumbling face-first to the court during Tuesday night’s playoff loss to Portland.

“He has a concussion. He’s in the protocol,” Spurs coach Mitch Johnson said after San Antonio fell 106-103 to even the Western Conference first-round series at one game apiece. “We’ll take the proper and appropriate steps.”

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Any extended absence by Wembanyama would be a massive blow to San Antonio, which finished with the league’s second-best record behind their 7ft 4in center, who won this year’s NBA defensive player of the year.

Under league guidelines, a player in the concussion protocol must have at least 48 hours of inactivity and recovery and then hit several benchmarks without symptoms before being cleared to play. A player must undergo neurological testing and receive a final clearance from a team doctor in consultation with the league’s concussion protocol director.

Game 3 is Friday in Portland. It seems improbable that Wembanyama would be cleared by then, but Johnson wouldn’t speculate about his status.

“The protocol is the protocol,” Johnson said. “We’ll just follow it as everyone else does and plan accordingly.”

The Spurs went 12-6 during the regular season without Wembanyama.

“We’ve all got to step up,” Spurs guard Devin Vassell said. “We know what Vic brings to the table. We’ve played without him for a couple games this year. It’s going to be next man up. Everybody’s going to have to step up. That’s a huge void to fill. We can’t get bogged down by it.”

Wembanyama was fouled by Jrue Holiday after he spun around the Trail Blazers point guard in the paint. He was not able to brace himself on the fall, and his jaw hit the court with 8:57 remaining in the second quarter.

Wembanyama remained on the court for about 30 seconds before sitting up for about a minute and speaking to teammate Stephon Castle. Johnson called a timeout to check on Wembanyama, who immediately ran through the tunnel after getting to his feet.

Veteran Luke Kornet replaced Wembanyama and started the second half at center, finishing with 10 points and nine rebounds in 28 minutes.

“It was scary. I saw the images. It was not good,” Trail Blazers coach Tiago Splitter said of the play where Wembanyama got hurt. “With him out, Kornet, I think he did a tremendous job. We still have to figure out how to play better when Kornet is on the court.”

San Antonio are in the playoffs for the first time since 2019 and beat Portland in Game 1 of the Western Conference first-round series behind 35 points from Wembanyama. Without him, the Spurs blew a 14-point fourth-quarter lead in the playoffs for the first time since 2003, a span of 76 games.

Vassell said he didn’t have a chance to talk with Wembanyama immediately after the game.

“We’ll definitely check in on him. Our prayers are with him,” Vassell said. “We just want him to be good.”

In Tuesday’s other games, VJ Edgecombe had 30 points and 10 rebounds while playing through pain after taking a hard fall early in the game, Tyrese Maxey scored 29 points and the Philadelphia 76ers beat the Boston Celtics 111-97 to tie their playoff series at 1-1. Meanwhile, LeBron James had 28 points, eight rebounds and seven assists, and short-handed Los Angeles outlasted Houston for a victory and a stunning 2-0 lead in their playoff series.

Playoff. VJ. Edgecombe.

The Sixers shocked the Boston Celtics with a 111-97 win in Game 2 Tuesday night, tying the series at 1-1.

Tyrese Maxey had a much easier go of it, putting up 29 points and nine assists shooting 11-of-28 from the floor. Edgecombe had his playoff coming out party, having a team-high 30 points, shooting 12-of-20 from the floor along with 10 rebounds.

Paul George importantly got off to a great start, going for 19 on 7-of-13 shooting. Jaylen Brown led all scorers with 36.

Joel Embiid (appendectomy surgery recovery) remained the only player unable to suit up due to injury.

Here are some thoughts at the buzzer.

First Quarter

• The process of these teams was on display early, with the Celtics knocking down two quick threes while PG slowly backed down his defender for a midrange pull-up on the Sixers’ first two possessions. There were plenty of fireworks early as Brown was called for a technical foul for how hard he dunked on Adem Bona. Even with that, the Sixers started the game as well as possible, making six of their first eight field goal attempts.
• Making a three-pointer was the only thing the Sixers didn’t do in their good start. The Celtics made five early as they ripped off a 16-0 run in response. During this stretch, Edgecombe landed hard on his lower back and legs. He gingerly limped back for a brief trip to the locker room before returning to the game in the second.
• The run was finally ended with a Maxey pull-up three. The Sixers would surrender an offensive rebound on the ensuing possession, but Maxey had the best box out by a Sixer in years to secure the rebound on the second attempt. Andre Drummond was able to putback a miss, Quentin Grimes made his first three of the night, and a Maxey pick-six made it a 10-0 Sixers run in response. George was able to put back a missed Grimes’ floater to pull the Sixers within three after the first.

Second Quarter

• Personnel is a big reason for their rebounding struggles, but it’s astonishing how unprepared the Sixers look for long rebounds. Payton Pritchard pulled down the Celtics’ sixth offensive board of the night just two possessions into the quarter. The minutes with Maxey on the bench got off to a rough start, but Drummond poking away a steal turned that around as they followed up with back-to-back threes from Grimes and George. Grimes blocking a Pritchard three from behind was a big stop in this stretch.
• The Sixers kept this play going out of Boston’s timeout as well. A three and another putback from Drummond briefly put them back in front. Edgecombe returned to the game and hit a pull-up, then grabbed an offensive board. A negative worth monitoring though was Jayson Tatum being able to bait George into his third foul of the night.
• Despite turning it over immediately after pulling down an impressive offensive rebound, Edgecombe continued to look really good coming back from the fall. He was finally able to knock down some threes, hitting four in the half, and threw down a transition dunk in a crowd of defenders. As a team the Sixers were rewarded for their hustle. Kelly Oubre Jr. missed the free throw to convert an and-1, but Dominick Barlow fought to grab the offensive rebound that led to another Edgecombe three.

• The Sixers still struggled to keep the Celtics off the offensive glass, but they were able to hold the Celtics without a field goal for the final 2:05 of the half. Barlow took an inadvertent elbow to the face on Brown’s last shot, but replay upheld that no foul occurred and the Sixers took an eight-point lead into the break.

Third Quarter

• George drilling a pull-up three was a great start to the second half, as was Boston’s field goal drought continuing. It took the Celtics two and a half minutes into the third to snap the drought. The bad news for Philly was Edgecombe re-aggravating his injury and going back to the locker room two minutes into the half.
• Brown getting to the rim did get both of the Jays going. Brown easily drove to the basket again, as did Tatum, before Brown hit a pair of threes. Oubre finally hit his first three of the series, then drove for a couple of layups himself to keep the Celtics at arms’ length.
• Regression to the mean hit George the hardest. He airballed a couple of threes and threw a bad turnover as the Celtics slowly nibbled away. Thanks to Maxey and Oubre flying around the perimeter the Sixers were able to force a big shot clock violation, especially since Edgecombe came right down the floor and nailed a three (A result of the Sixers finally putting Nik Vucevic in an action in space, no less). Edgecombe got to the basket two more times coming out of a timeout to keep the Sixers’ lead at seven going into the fourth.

Fourth Quarter

• White drilling a three off the catch and Pritchard beating Adem Bona off the dribble for a bucket made things hairy quick. Justin Edwards responding with a three is just what the Sixers needed. PG chipped in with a midrange and a trip to the line. Edwards’ night had felt more quiet than his Game 1 performance, but his four rebounds and swat on a Brown jumper were huge.
• Open misses continued to haunt the Sixers. Two open threes clanked off, then Bona missed a layup before five points from the Jays made it a one-score game again. Maxey had really cooled off but picked a good time to nail a pair of threes to force a Celtics timeout. Edgecombe made a great read to pick off a pass coming out of the timeout and Maxey drew an offensive foul, helping the Sixers respond with five points of their own.

• Brown pulled up trying to draw a foul on a three. While he didn’t get the call, the three falling was a big shot for Boston. Edgecombe was able to respond with another one of his own, then Maxey wove his way to the basket for an acrobatic layup that turned into an and-1. Brown was able to hit another tough three a few possessions later, but Joe Mazzulla had already sent the end of his bench to the scorer’s table to call it for the night. The conclusive victory the Sixers pulled off prompted a tweet from their most online player.

Rockets star Kevin Durant made his return to the court in Game 2 of the first round playoff series against the Lakers on Tuesday night.

Durant sat out of Game 1 on Saturday because of a right knee contusion he suffered during a practice on April 15 in Houston.

The Lakers won Game 1, 107-98, to take a 1-0 lead in the series.

Durant was the Rockets’ leading scorer for the 2025-26 season, averaging 26 points in 78 games. 

Among the four regular season games he missed, two was because of personal reasons, one was because of sprained left ankle and one was because of the team resting their main players in the final game of the season.

“He was great all year,” Udoka said pregame. “To your point, he only missed one game due to a tweaked ankle. It’s really one game that he honestly could have played through if it was a playoffs. So, durable, plays high minutes, competitive, wants to be out there and not come out of game and all those things. So obviously very frustrated, as we were, kind of fluky thing that happened. Two guys bump knees and to have that happen when you rest the guy the last game of the season and you’re going into the playoffs and preparation, frustration was from all sides, let alone him who’s a very competitive guy. So understand that, but being smart, looking at big picture, you want him to be out there 100% and not with limited movement, thinking about it.”

The Rockets started Durant alongside Amen Thompson, Josh Okogie, Jabari Smith and Alperen Sengun.

The Lakers had everyone who was available in Game 1 available for Game 2, starting the same lineup of Luke Kennard, Marcus Smart, LeBron James, Rui Hachimura and Deandre Ayton.

Tuesday was the first time Durant and James played against each other in the playoffs since the 2018 NBA Finals.

Victor Wembanyama left Game 2 of the Spurs vs. Portland Trail Blazers after falling and smacking his head on the court with 8:57 left in the second quarter. He was driving when Jrue Holiday pulled the chair, and he fell face first. He slammed his chin on the court and appeared to lose consciousness for a split second. As he tried to get up, he appeared dazed and sat back down before heading to the locker room. He did not return after being entered into concussion protocol.

While there is no set timeline for return from a concussion, a player who enters protocol must pass certain tests and by symptom free for at least 24 hours before being cleared to return. The average return time is usually between 5-7 days, which means it could be at least Game 5 before he returns. If there is a silver lining, it’s that the Spurs played all their regular season games against Portland without him and still went 2-1, but the playoffs are a different animal.

Wemby had played in 12 minutes with 5 points and 4 rebounds before exiting. The Spurs were down 32-34 when he left and tied 57-57 at halftime.

San Antonio Spurs center Victor Wembanyama has been diagnosed with a concussion.

Wembanyama left Game 2 against the Portland Trail Blazers Tuesday, April 21, following a fall in which he hit his head on the floor.

“He has a concussion and he’s in the protocol, and we’ll obviously take the proper and appropriate steps,” Spurs coach Mitch Johnson said after the game.

Johnson added that Wembanyama was not being examined for anything beyond his assessment in concussion protocol. Johnson did not have any information for a possible timeline for Wembanyama to return to the court.

“You know, it’s tough,” Johnson added. “The protocol is the protocol, so we’ll just follow it as everyone else does and plan accordingly.”

The Blazers eventually would come back from a 14-point deficit with a little more than eight minutes to play to win the game, 106-103, tying the series at one game apiece.

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