Game 4 was truly a game of two halves as San Antonio was able to erase a 19-point first half lead from Portland to take a firm 3-1 grasp on the series.
SAN ANTONIO — 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 on Sunday.
De’Aaron Fox added 28 points for the Spurs, who will return home for Game 5 on Tuesday night.
The Spurs announced about an hour before the game that Wembanyama, the 7-foot-4 Defensive Player of the Year, would play after clearing the league’s concussion protocol.
The Spurs trailed the Blazers by 17 points at the half, but the game was knotted at 74 going into the fourth quarter. Fox and Keldon Johnson hit back-to-back 3-pointers to put the Spurs up 90-77 with 7:14 left.
Johnson’s dunk with 4:31 remaining made it 101-81 for San Antonio and all but sealed the win.
Deni Avdija led the Trail Blazers with 26 points. There was tense moment with 2:13 left when Avdija and Stephon Castle exchanged shoves. They were given offsetting technical fouls.
Wembanyama sustained a concussion in the first half of San Antonio’s 106-103 loss on Tuesday and was unavailable Friday night for Game 3. But the Spurs rallied in the third quarter and won 120-108 to take the series lead.
Wembanyama, who was listed as questionable going into the game, started and drew gasps from the crowd at the Moda Center with an emphatic dunk with 9:58 to go in the first half.
Portland went ahead 45-28 in the first half on an 18-3 run. Robert Williams III dunked before a pair of quick 3-pointers from Jerami Grant and Scoot Henderson. Avdija capped the run with a fadeaway jumper.
The Blazers led by as many as 19 in the half and were ahead 58-41 at the break.
Castle, who had 33 points in San Antonio’s Game 3 win, appeared to injure his left hand in the first half but returned.
The Spurs went on a 13-0 run to open the second half and closed the gap to 58-54 as the Blazers went cold. Devin Vassell’s jumper with 4:38 tied it at 62 for the Spurs. He hit another to put San Antonio in front.
Read on for live updates from the game.
FINAL: Spurs 114, Trail Blazers 93
In his return, Wembanyama filled the stat sheet with 27 points, 11 rebounds, 7 blocks, 4 steals and 3 assists, proving he’s just fine after the concussion scare in Game 2.
But he wasn’t alone as Fox turned in a 28-point performance to lead the game in scoring and Castle spread the wealth around with 8 assists himself.
4Q, 2:30 remaining: Spurs 104, Trail Blazers 90
After a hard foul, Castle put the basketball on Advjia’s chest and a shoving match began before offsetting technical fouls were handed out and free throws were taken.
4Q, 4:23 remaining: Spurs 101, Trail Blazers 81
The Sixth Man of the Year Keldon Johnson came in and made his presence known with a few big-time slams in transition to all but end the game and extend the Spurs lead to 20 points.
4Q, 8:16 remaining: Spurs 84, Trail Blazers 77
Fox took the game over and helped San Antonio extend their lead to 7, but was staying cautious on the defensive side due to already having five personal fouls.
The Area 51 connection between Wembanyama and Castle was on full display to start the final frame as well.
End of 3Q: Spurs 74, Trail Blazers 74
Portland responded and stole the lead back with a pair of threes from Jrue Holiday, but the Spurs were able to tie it back up with a put-back slam from Wembanyama to end the 3rd quarter.
3Q, 4:04 remaining: Spurs 64, Trail Blazers 63
After being down by 21, the Spurs took their first lead of the second half after Vassell made back-to-back tough shots.
3Q, 7:48 remaining: Spurs 54, Trail Blazers 58
San Antonio bounced back and started the second half on an 13-0 run after Julian Champagnie, De’Aaron Fox and Devin Vassell each knocked down a three.
HALFTIME: Spurs 41, Trail Blazers 58
After returning to the game, Castle was called for a few personal fouls which led to free throws for the Blazers. Harper came back in to avoid Castle getting into further foul trouble.
But the Spurs began to be in trouble as their deficit got up to 19 points before the end of the half, which matched San Antonio’s lowest scoring first half of the season with only 41 points..
In the 2nd quarter alone, the Spurs were outscored 33-18, and only shot 32% from the field compared to Portland’s 58%.
Portland also had a 24-1 edge in transition points during the first half.
2Q, 3:08 remaining: Spurs 35, Trail Blazers 50
The Trail Blazers started connecting on several shots from deep, taking advantage of time Wembanyama spent resting on the bench and Castle getting treated for his injury.
To add salt to wound, Dylan Harper needed assistance getting back to the Spurs’ bench after colliding with Vassell as they tried getting around a screen on a made three-pointer from Portland.
Castle returned to the game after the injury to Harper.
2Q, 7:11 remaining: Spurs 28, Trail Blazers 37
Unfortunately the Blazers offense did not slow down until Carter Bryant silenced the crowd with a corner three to stop the bleeding.
But an alley-oop from Deni Avdija to Robert Williams III extended Portland’s lead to nine and forced Mitch Johnson to burn a timeout.
Coming back from the timeout, Castle was sent back to the locker room for x-rays on his left hand after injuring on previous play.
2Q, 9:58 remaining: Spurs 25, Trail Blazers 27
The Spurs offense continued to stutter before a big slam from Wembanyama forced a timeout from the Blazers, and might’ve given San Antonio the momentum shift they needed still being down by a bucket.
End of 1Q: Spurs 23, Trail Blazers 25
Wembanyama was the game’s leading scorer in his first quarter back from his concussion (7 points), but Portland got their feet under them and ended the first frame on a 9-2 run to take back the lead.
1Q, 3:36 remaining: Spurs 16, Trail Blazers 14
Despite a hot start, the Spurs’ offense began to simmer and the Blazers took advantage by outrebounding and getting to the free throw line to cut the lead to two going into the first timeout.
Wemby returned to the game after the break and instantly hit one from beyond the arc, showing fans he’s just fine after missing Game 3:
1Q, 7:04 remaining: Spurs 12, Trail Blazers 7
So far, so good for San Antonio, which is up on Portland thanks to two early treys from Stephon Castle.
Wembanyama already has a pair of blocks in the first four-plus minutes of action.