The Portland Trail Blazers are carrying momentum after a 106-103 win over the San Antonio Spurs on the road Tuesday night in the NBA Playoffs. Now the first-round series moves back to the friendly confines of the Moda Center for Game 3 on Friday with the series knotted up at 1-1.
The Blazers returned to the practice floor in Tualatin on Thursday morning to prepare for that crucial Game 3 and a Spurs team that may or may not have superstar center Victor Wembanyama. The NBA’s youngest-ever Defensive
Player of the Year exited Game 2 early with a concussion, but he is traveling with the Spurs to Portland, and a return for Game 3 or 4 hasn’t been ruled out yet.
Following practice, Blazers acting head coach Tiago Splitter and multiple players took questions about how they’re preparing for Friday’s game, among other topics. Here’s some main takeaways from the media availability session.
Wembanyama Uncertainty
Splitter said the Blazers are preparing for both scenarios ahead of Game 3: a Spurs team with Wembanyama, and one without Wembanyama. He was also quick to point out the Blazers have struggled more so far in this series when the 7-foot-4 center has been on the bench and backup Spurs center Luke Kornet has caused problems.
“Kornet’s been doing an amazing job defending the rim,” Splitter said. “ They play extremely well also without Wemby … They actually have a better plus/minus without Wemby [in this series], so we gotta be ready for both situations.”
Blazers third-year guard Scoot Henderson was the big performer in Game 2, leading Portland with 31 points and five 3-pointers while shooting 11-17 from the floor. He also lauded Kornet’s rim protection in the paint, while saying the Blazers game plan and mentality won’t change much whether Wembanyama plays or not: They want to attack the rim more, regardless of who’s in the paint.
“Continue to get downhill, keep being aggressive,” Henderson said. “I don’t wanna give our secrets or anything, but that’s our focus right now: get downhill. There’s a lot of possessions on the floor where we have a chance to just go, rather than pausing on the ball screen. Just go, just attack the bigs, get in the paint and let the play dissolve from there.”
While Wembanyama’s status for Game 3 is a major question mark, the initial reporting around the injury and the fact he’s joining the team on the Portland trip makes a comeback at some point in this series appear likely. Splitter also thinks they haven’t seen the last of the 22-year-old phenom:
“We know, even if he doesn’t play one or two games, whatever it is, we’re gonna face him soon, so we gotta be ready for everything.”
Dame Time? [Eye Emojis]
The Blazers social team caused a small stir on Wednesday when they posted a slow-motion video of injured Portland star Damian Lillard taking jump shots on the court with a simple caption of eye emojis. The messaging all season has been Lillard won’t play again until next fall as he recovers from the torn Achilles he suffered last spring. But could this be the team hinting at an unexpected, move-like return for the Blazers legend during the NBA Playoffs?
Splitter was asked about that possibility on Thursday. While the coach didn’t put much weight into the messaging of that video, he also didn’t unequivocally rule out the possibility of a Lillard return.
“He’s working out. He’s trying to get ready to play,” Splitter said. “When that’s going to be, we don’t know. All I can say is that. He’s working out as he always does. Whatever you guys saw in that film is what he’s doing the last two, three months.”
In response to a straight-up question about whether Lillard will play in this first-round series, Splitter gave this answer:
“Probably not.”
As it stands now, I would chalk up these responses to a little gamesmanship from Splitter, and perhaps, just the coach having fun teasing the idea that Lillard could suit up this season. It remains highly unlikely that they’d try to acclimate the 14-year NBA vet into playoff action after he hasn’t played a game with this team all season.
However, the responses from Splitter raised my eyebrows just enough to ask Blazers veteran Robert Williams III if the players have conversations with Lillard about him returning for this playoff run.
“Shit, we’ve been telling him that for like — you know what I’m saying — that an everyday thing,” Williams said. “But his health comes first, man, so we’re obviously backing him up. But we’ve joked about that everyday for months.”
The Importance of Rob
On the subject of Williams, the backup center was another Game 2 hero for Portland. The NBA vet came through in the win with 11 points on 5-6 shooting, nine rebounds, four assists, two blocks and a steal in 23 minutes. He also scored arguably the game’s biggest bucket when Deni Avdija lobbed it to him for an and-1 dunk to put the Blazers up 104-101 with 12 seconds left.
Williams, who played his college ball in Texas at Texas A&M, mentioned before the trip to San Antonio that he’d have family in attendance for the two games. He talked about what it was like to have that massive play in front of them.
“My Pops was happy. Of course, my son was probably asleep by the time it happened,” Williams said. “I wish I would’ve made the damn free throw. But just a big-energy, big-momentum play, even my teammates were coming up to me after, congratulating me on the dunk. But honestly, I walked straight up to Deni after the dunk, and I was like, ‘Look, we need one more stop.’”
Splitter also talked about how important Williams has been to the Blazers so far in this series.
“He’s super important for us in this series,” Splitter said. “His ability to switch; to be up on screens; [to be] mobile, agile; run the court; guarding guys like Wemby or switching on guys like [De’Aaron] Fox and being up. It’s really important for us.”
The Blazers are almost 24 hours away from playoff basketball in Rip City. The game tips off Friday at 7 p.m. PDT.
