Back in action
Two prized big men marked their return to action in the NBA playoffs on Sunday.
Only one of them emerged with a win.
In Portland, Oregon, Victor Wembanyama had 27 points, 11 rebounds and seven blocks in his return from a concussion and the San Antonio Spurs took a 3-1 lead in their first-round series against the Portland Trail Blazers with a 114-93 victory that had the Spurs’ star center celebrating the culture propping the squad.
“I think there’s no useless drama in between us,” Wembanyama said. “We thrive when we do the invisible efforts that benefit others. There’s no jealousy. There’s nobody who cares about their stat line. So it’s our greatest strength.”
And he showed it, celebrating big baskets by teammates like Stephon Castle and De’Aaron Fox more than he did when it was he who made the big plays.
Fox added 28 points for the Spurs.
“They give me a lot of reasons to celebrate,” said the newly minted Defensive Player of the Year, who made history by being the youngest to win the award and the first to do so unanimously.
The Spurs will return home for Game 5 on Tuesday night, where they will try to ride the momentum of becoming the first team to trail by at least 15 points in the half and win by more than 15 points in a playoff game.
Portland led San Antonio by 17 after the first two quarters.
In Philadelphia, it didn’t take long for a loud crowd energized by the return of star center Joel Embiid to fall silent.
Payton Pritchard hit six of Boston’s 24 three-pointers, including one to beat the first-quarter buzzer and finished with 32 points as the Celtics crushed the 76ers, 128-96.
“[I try to change] the energy, the pace of the game,” said the Celtics’ super sub. “The first two games, I didn’t like how I was attacking the game, so these last two I tried to be more aggressive getting downhill. Then it kinda just opened up for me and the three-ball started falling. So it was good.”
Appendectomy
Jayson Tatum had 30 points and 11 assists to help the Celtics spoil Embiid’s return from an appendectomy and take a 3-1 lead in their first-round playoff series.
Game 5 is on Tuesday night in Boston.
“We need to have humility,” Pritchard said of the mindset heading into a possible closeout game. “Gotta go back home and take care of Game 5. That’s the most important thing.”
Jaylen Brown scored 20 points for the Celtics, who thumped the Sixers by 20-plus points for the second time in the series.
Embiid scored 26 points in 34 minutes just 17 days after having an appendectomy. He wasted little time scoring in his first game since April 6. The two-time NBA scoring champion sank two free throws for the Sixers’ first points of the game, added a monster two-handed jam and scored the team’s first eight points.
Embiid withered after the fast start and missed seven straight shots before he converted a three-point play in the third quarter. That cut the Sixers’ deficit to 23 points.
The Spurs announced about an hour before the game that Wembanyama would play after clearing the league’s concussion protocol.
‘Very disappointing’
After the game, he indicated that the way his return to play was handled was “very disappointing” but emphasized that he was treated well by the Spurs’ medical staff.
Down 17 at the start of the third, the Spurs knotted the game at 74 going into the fourth quarter. Fox and Keldon Johnson hit triples to put the Spurs up 90-77 with 7:14 left.
“We need to find the answers before having our back against the wall,” Wembanyama said about the second-half comeback. “But that also shows the strength of our team in adversity. We stick together. We get closer to each other, we feed off of each other’s energy.”
Wembanyama sustained a concussion in the first half of San Antonio’s 106-103 loss on Tuesday and was unavailable on Friday night for Game 3. But the Spurs rallied in the third quarter and won 120-108 to take the series lead.
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