PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — 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.
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