Spurs rally past Blazers 120-108, take 2-1 series lead without Wemby

The Spurs did not need Victor Wembanyama to seize control of the series in Portland. Stephon Castle scored 33 points, Dylan Harper added 27 points and 10 rebounds, and San Antonio beat the Trail Blazers 120-108 on Friday night to take a 2-1 lead in the Western Conference first-round matchup.

That result carried more weight than a single road win. Wembanyama sat out while recovering from a concussion suffered in Game 2 on Tuesday, April 21, after being listed as questionable and cleared to travel to Portland. San Antonio answered the absence with its most revealing performance of the series, one that showed how much depends on secondary creation and how much the Spurs can survive if their centerpiece is unavailable for a night or two.

The path to the win was not smooth. Portland, playing its first home playoff game since 2021, pushed ahead by 15 points in the third quarter. San Antonio then ripped off a 21-5 run to turn an 82-67 deficit into an 88-87 lead heading into the fourth. Luke Kornet, starting in Wembanyama’s place, gave the Spurs 14 points and 10 rebounds, a reminder that the frontcourt could still function with size, screening and rebounding even without the league’s most disruptive defender.

Castle and Harper did the heaviest lifting, and that mattered as much as the final score. With Wembanyama sidelined, the Spurs did not simply patch together a stopgap offense around De’Aaron Fox. They found two young perimeter scorers willing to attack, finish and carry the possession burden late in the game. That balance, plus Kornet’s work inside, gave San Antonio enough structure to survive a Portland push led by Jrue Holiday’s 29 points.

The broader playoff question is sharper now. Wembanyama entered the series after a 35-point explosion in Game 1, a franchise record for a playoff debut, and he had finished the regular season averaging 25 points, 11.5 rebounds, 3.1 assists and a league-best 3.1 blocks per game. He was the league’s first unanimous Defensive Player of the Year and one of three MVP finalists. San Antonio is clearly a different team without that level of rim protection and shot creation. Game 3 still suggested the Spurs can function as a serious playoff team when the offense comes from Castle and Harper, the front line is organized around Kornet, and the defense holds long enough to let a comeback take shape.

Portland had tied the series with a 106-103 win in Game 2 after Scoot Henderson scored 31 and the Blazers erased a 14-point deficit in the final 8:18. Game 4 is set for Sunday at the Moda Center, where San Antonio will try to prove this was more than a survival act without Wembanyama.