Victor Wembanyama made a triumphant return from a concussion, posting 27 points, 11 rebounds, and seven blocks as the San Antonio Spurs surged to a 3-1 series lead against the Portland Trail Blazers with a convincing 114-93 victory. De'Aaron Fox contributed 28 points to the Spurs' cause, setting the stage for Game Five on Tuesday night. Wembanyama's return was confirmed about an hour before the game, after he cleared the league's concussion protocol. Although he expressed disappointment with the handling of his return and the concussion protocol, he praised the Spurs' medical staff.
The Spurs trailed by 17 points at halftime but staged a remarkable comeback, with the game tied at 74 going into the fourth quarter. Back-to-back three-pointers by Fox and Keldon Johnson put the Spurs up 90-77 with 7:14 remaining.
Johnson's dunk with 4:31 left sealed the win for San Antonio. Wembanyama reflected on the team's second-half resurgence, saying, 'We need to find the answers before having our back against the wall.' He added, '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.' Deni Avdija led the Trail Blazers with 26 points, and a tense moment arose with 2:13 left when Avdija and Stephon Castle exchanged shoves, resulting in offsetting technical fouls. Avdija commented, 'You can be tough, you can be physical, but there's a level of disrespect that I'm not gonna accept.' Wembanyama had sustained a concussion in the first half of the Spurs' 106-103 loss on Tuesday and was unavailable for Game Three, but the Spurs rallied to win 120-108 and take the series lead.