Though Victor Wembanyama was officially listed as “questionable” for Game 3 between the Spurs and Trail Blazers, there are still several boxes he must check off<\/a> before returning to the court after suffering a concussion in Game 2 on Tuesday\u2014including clearance from NBA officials.\u00a0<\/p>\n Head coach Mitch Johnson’s philosophy for his team? Adapting to possibly playing a playoff road game or two \u2013 Wemby-less \u2013 by staying the course. After all, San Antonio went 12-6 in the regular season when he sat.<\/p>\n “Our approach hasn\u2019t changed as far as the style of play and the brand and identity,” Johnson said at Thursday practice, before the team took off for Portland. “It\u2019s something we\u2019ve been experiencing all year and that won\u2019t change now. Obviously we know what Victor means to this team, but we won\u2019t totally alter our game plan in terms of availability for anybody.\u201d<\/p>\n The fact that Wembanyama was listed as questionable and not “out” for Friday as he works through the NBA’s concussion protocol was the second positive sign the team received on Thursday. The first came a few hours earlier, when Johnson revealed the 22-year-old All-Star would fly with the team<\/a> to Portland, where Games 3 and 4 will be played on Friday night and Sunday afternoon, respectively.<\/p>\n Still, NBA insiders have reported that the typical timeline for players to return to the court after a concussion is seven to 10 days; by that timetable, Wemby wouldn’t suit back up until Game 5 next Tuesday at the earliest.\u00a0<\/p>\n If that’s to be the case, the Spurs’ other stars will be working to ensure they’re not entering that game on the brink of elimination. The first-round series is a best-of-seven matchup.\u00a0<\/p>\n “We\u2019re a much better team with him out there,” said De’Aaron Fox, who scored 17 points in each of the first two games. “But we are prepared to play without him, because we don\u2019t know what tomorrow\u2019s gonna look like.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI think everybody is ready to take on more, both offensively and defensively.\u201d<\/p>\n San Antonio took Game 1<\/a> to cap a raucous citywide celebration of their return to postseason action after seven years, but Portland rallied to overcome a late double-digit deficit and win Game 2\u00a0<\/a>as San Antonio missed crucial shots down the stretch.\u00a0<\/p>\n Fox will be expected to take on a heavier scoring load without Wembanyama on the floor. He’s done well when in that position during the regular season, leading the Spurs in scoring in 11 of the 18 games the Frenchman sat while averaging 26.7 points in those matchups.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cDropping Game 2, you know you have to go in there and win in their building,” Fox said. “I think that\u2019s what we\u2019re excited about. When you play a team over and over and over again, you start to see adjustments, you start to see patterns. I think we\u2019re ready. We know what this team wants to do.\u201d<\/p>\n Backup center Luke Kornet is expected to start in place of Wemby on Friday; 7-footers Kelly Olynyk, Mason Plumlee and 6-foot-8 Bismack Biyombo round out the big man depth.\u00a0<\/p>\n Harrison Barnes and Dylan Harper are also set to take the floor after experiencing some pains of their own in Game 2.<\/p>\n \u201cWe can\u2019t rely on nobody to make the plays for us,” said Julian Champagnie, the Spurs’ sharpshooter who has gone 4-of-6 from downtown to start the playoffs. “We have to go out there and make the right plays\u2026 I thinking ending the game a little more locked-in will be better for us.\u201d<\/p>\n Of note is the fact the Spurs went 2-1 against Portland in the regular season\u2014all of them matchups that didn’t see Wembanyama on the floor. So the Silver & Black have the recipe for success against the Trail Blazers, evidenced by how the team was able to hold its own after Wemby departed Game 2 until Portland rallied.\u00a0<\/p>\n But it also shouldn’t be discounted that the Trail Blazers crowd will be ready as well. Just as San Antonio snapped a playoff drought this week, Portland will also be cheering on its team in their first home playoff game in five years.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cWhat will help is we\u2019ve played in a lot of hostile environments this year on the road, and we know what that\u2019s felt like,” Johnson said. “This will probably be the most hostile environment we\u2019ve been in all year.\u201d<\/p>\n Here’s what to know ahead of Game 3.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The game will be televised on Prime Video at 9:30 p.m. CT Friday. You can also listen to game action on WOAI 1200 and KXTN 1350.\u00a0<\/p>\n
POINTS: Victor Wembanyama* (25.0), De’Aaron Fox (18.6), Stephon Castle (16.7)\u00a0REBOUNDS: Wembanyama* (11.5), Luke Kornet (6.1), Julian Champagnie (5.8)ASSISTS: Castle (7.4), Fox (6.2), Dylan Harper (3.9)BLOCKS: Wembanyama* (3.1), Kornet (1.0), Champagnie (0.5) <\/p>\n POINTS: Deni Avdija (24.2), Shaedon Sharpe (20.8), Jerami Grant (18.6)REBOUNDS: Donovan Clingan (11.6), Robert Williams III (7.0), Avdija (6.9)ASSISTS: Avdija (6.7), Jrue Holiday (6.1), Scoot Henderson (3.7)BLOCKS: Clingan (1.7), Williams (1.5), Grant (0.6) <\/p>\n
As of Thursday night, here’s where the team’s respective injury reports stack up:<\/p>\n Jordan McLaughlin – Out (ankle sprain)Victor Wembanyama – Questionable (concussion protocol) <\/p>\n Damian Lilliard – Out (Achilles, out for season) <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Defensive Player of the Year is officially listed as “questionable” for Friday’s game after suffering a concussion.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":264008,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[82,84,83],"class_list":{"0":"post-264007","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-san-antonio","8":"tag-san-antonio","9":"tag-san-antonio-headlines","10":"tag-san-antonio-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/264007","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=264007"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/264007\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/264008"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=264007"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=264007"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=264007"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"\/](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/edef3c2f-b5b2-47f4-bfda-b98331c82bbf_1140x641.jpg\")
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<\/p>\n
\nHow to watch <\/p>\n
\nTeam stats leaders (regular season) <\/p>\n
\nInjury report <\/p>\n