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Victor Wembanyama\u2019s health status and Jrue Holiday\u2019s overall play are among the factors to watch as Game 3 nears.<\/p>\n
\u2022\u00a0Download the NBA App<\/a><\/p>\n San Antonio Spurs All-Star\u00a0Victor\u00a0Wembanyama\u2019s\u00a0availability<\/a> after sustaining a concussion in Game 2 against the Portland Trail Blazers is the biggest storyline\u00a0heading into\u00a0Game 3 of their first-round<\/a> Western Conference series.\u00a0<\/p>\n If he plays, it means he has met the return-to-participation conditions listed in the NBA concussion policy summary, which includes no concussion-related symptoms at rest, clearance by a team physician, completion of an exertion process and confirmation from the league\u2019s director of the concussion program.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s pretty straightforward,\u201d\u00a0Spurs coach Mitch Johnson\u00a0said. \u201cObviously, we hope\u00a0he\u2019ll\u00a0be back at some point. But\u00a0we\u2019ll\u00a0allow the protocol to play out. And again,\u00a0there\u2019s\u00a0nothing more important than his health.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n As the\u00a01-1\u00a0series moves to Portland, here are three things to watch\u00a0in\u00a0Game 3\u00a0on Friday (10: 30 p.m. ET, Prime Video<\/a>)<\/p>\n If\u00a0Wembanyama\u00a0plays vs. if he\u00a0doesn\u2019t<\/p>\n Wembanyama\u00a0was stellar in Game 1<\/a>, setting a franchise record for points in a playoff debut with 35 in the Spurs\u2019 victory. In Portland\u2019s Game 2 victory,\u00a0Wembanyama\u00a0left the game<\/a> with 8:57 remaining in the second quarter when he stumbled and\u00a0hit\u00a0his face and head on the court.\u00a0<\/p>\n The numbers are stark for the Spurs when\u00a0Wembanyama\u00a0is\u00a0on the court\u00a0vs. when he is not \u2013\u00a0it\u2019s\u00a0nearly a\u00a017-point difference per 100 possessions. If\u00a0Wembanyama\u00a0can\u2019t\u00a0play, center Luke Kornet will get more minutes,\u00a0and he had 10 points and nine rebounds in Game 2. <\/p>\n Though\u00a0they\u2019re\u00a0not\u00a0centers, veteran Harrison Barnes and rookie Carter Bryant could receive more playing time\u00a0in smaller lineups, and Johnson\u00a0also has veterans\u00a0Bismack\u00a0Biyombo and Kelly Olynyk on his bench.\u00a0<\/p>\n The Trail Blazers had success with Robert Williams III on the court in\u00a0Wembanyama\u2019s\u00a0absence. Williams had 11 points, nine rebounds, four assists and two blocks and was plus-13 in 23 minutes in Game 2. The Blazers also have more defensive versatility with Williams and Toumani Camara\u00a0when\u00a0Wembanyama\u00a0is\u00a0not in the game.\u00a0<\/p>\n Can Blazers\u2019 guards have repeat performance?<\/p>\n Twenty-year-old\u00a0Scoot Henderson\u00a0delivered 31 points on 11-for-17 shooting and Jrue Holiday, a two-time NBA champion, generated 16 points, nine assists, five rebounds and two blocks in Game 2. A similar performance from that backcourt will put Portland in\u00a0an advantageous\u00a0position.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n High-scoring guard Shaedon Sharpe is playing limited minutes since returning late in the season from a left fibula injury, and he is capable of\u00a0an\u00a0efficient performance.\u00a0He had nine points on five shots in 13 minutes in Game 2.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n Fox\u2019s production will be key<\/p>\n Of San Antonio\u2019s regular starters, guard De\u2019Aaron Fox is the oldest and the only one with playoff experience\u00a0before\u00a0this season. Even though it was just one series when\u00a0Fox\u00a0was with Sacramento, he\u00a0produced against Golden State in 2023, scoring 38 points twice in the seven-game series. He had at least 24 points in four other games and at least nine assists in four games against\u00a0the Warriors.\u00a0<\/p>\n San Antonio needs that\u00a0version of\u00a0Fox even if\u00a0Wembanyama\u00a0is available and especially if\u00a0he\u2019s\u00a0not. The Spurs\u00a0acquired\u00a0Fox at the 2025 trade deadline to provide backcourt experience for these moments.\u00a0<\/p>\n * * *<\/p>\n Jeff Zillgitt has covered the NBA since 2008. You can email him at\u00a0jzillgitt@nba.com<\/a>, find\u00a0his archive here<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0follow him on X<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Victor Wembanyama\u2019s health status and Jrue Holiday\u2019s overall play are among the factors to watch as Game 3…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":603817,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[64],"tags":[355,99,262656],"class_list":["post-603816","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nba","tag-nba","tag-sports","tag-trail-blazers-spurs-3-things-to-watch-game-3"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/603816","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=603816"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/603816\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/603817"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=603816"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=603816"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=603816"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}