San Antonio Spurs star Victor Wembanyama left Game 2 of their first-round series against the Portland Trail Blazers on Tuesday and entered the league’s concussion protocol. With 8:57 remaining in the second quarter, Wembanyama lost his footing and took an extremely hard fall after Blazers guard Jrue Holiday fouled him.
Wembanyama’s face hit the floor at high velocity. As a result, he will miss the remainder of the game, according to the Spurs.
Wembanyama appeared dazed initially, and the Spurs called a timeout. When he got up, he went straight to the back. After the timeout, backup center Luke Kornet took his place in the lineup.
In 12 minutes on Tuesday, Wembanyama scored five points on 1-for-3 shooting, dished one assist, grabbed four rebounds, blocked one shot and committed two turnovers. In his spectacular playoff debut two days earlier, he scored 35 points on 13-for-21 shooting and made five of his six 3-point attempts in a 111-98 win.
On Monday, Wembanyama became the NBA’s first unanimous Defensive Player of the Year. He is also a finalist for the Most Valuable Player award. During the regular season, San Antonio was 15.2 points per 100 possessions better with Wembanyama on the court than without him (in non-garbage-time minutes), per Cleaning The Glass. If he has a concussion and has to miss any games beyond Tuesday’s, beating the Blazers will be significantly more difficult for the Spurs.
Kornet, one of the league’s best backup bigs, will slide into the starting lineup if Wembanyama is sidelined. He is not the game-changing force that Wembanyama is, but he is a smart, solid positional defender and he is enormous. In the regular season, Kornet averaged 11.2 points, 3.2 assists, 10.4 rebounds and 1.6 blocks per 36 minutes (but averaged just 21 minutes per game). San Antonio went 12-6 in the 18 games that Wembanyama missed.
When Kornet came out of the game in the second quarter against Portland on Tuesday, rookie Carter Bryant played smallball “center.” Bryant is 6-foot-6, but his wingspan is just about 7 feet and, because of his speed and strength, can guard just about anybody. While Kornet is effective in drop coverage, going small allows the Spurs to defend more aggressively and switch every pick-and-roll if coach Mitch Johnson elects to do so.
San Antonio also has numerous veteran bigs on the bench. Bismack Biyombo, Mason Plumlee and Kelly Olynyk have been used sparingly this season, but, in theory at least, could be pressed into duty while Wembanyama is unavailable.
Game 3 of the series is Friday in Portland.
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