The Portland Trail Blazers exploited an injury to Victor Wembanyama to score an upset 106-103 victory over the second-seeded San Antonio Spurs in their NBA Western Conference playoff series on Tuesday.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
San Antonio superstar Wembanyama -- who had scored 35 points in the Spurs' game one win on Sunday -- exited in the second quarter at the Frost Bank Center in Texas after hitting his head on the court following a collision with Portland's Jrue Holiday.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
The 22-year-old looked groggy as he lay on the floor for several minutes before getting to his feet and jogging to the locker room.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
The 7ft 4in (2.24m) forward was subsequently ruled out of the remainder of the game after entering the concussion protocol.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
San Antonio looked to have overcome Wembanyama's injury as they pulled into a 14-point lead early in the fourth quarter, leading 93-79 with just over eight minutes left on the clock.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
But with victory seemingly in sight, San Antonio's shooting went ice cold and the absence of newly crowned NBA defensive player of the year Wembanyama was keenly felt as a determined Portland snaffled victory, closing the fourth quarter with a 27-10 run.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
Scoot Henderson led Portland's scoring with 31 points, while Holiday added 16.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
"Basketball is a game of runs, and the basketball gods are always gonna repay the ones that play the game right," Henderson told NBC television afterwards.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
Game three of the best-of-seven series takes place in Portland on Friday.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
- Sixers bounce back -<\/p>\r\n\r\n
In the Eastern Conference playoffs, Tyrese Maxey and VJ Edgecombe combined for 59 points as the Philadelphia 76ers scored a series-leveling 111-97 victory on the road over the Boston Celtics.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
Edgecombe made six-of-10 three-point attempts before finishing with 30 points, 10 rebounds and two assists in a stunning victory for the Sixers, who had trailed 26-13 early in the first quarter before rallying.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
Maxey was also lethal from long-range, making five three-pointers on his way to a 29-point haul.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
The bounce-back victory came after the Sixers were thrashed 123-91 in game one on Sunday, after a performance that Philadelphia coach Nick Nurse lambasted as "absolutely unacceptable."<\/p>\r\n\r\n
Nurse was unsurprisingly happier with his team's winning display on Tuesday.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
"I thought we just played much better team defense tonight," said Nurse, who also saluted his team's resolve after Boston surged into an early double-digit lead.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
"I think we did a great job of just taking that punch,” Nurse said.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
"They were spectacular to start, but we just hung in there. I said 'Listen, they're pretty great right now, let's believe that they're not going to be this great the whole game, and just hang in there'. And our guys did."<\/p>\r\n\r\n
Jaylen Brown led Boston's scoring with 36 points but Jayson Tatum was the only other Celtics player to make double figures with 19 points. The Celtics made just 35-of-89 shots from the field throughout the game.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
"You have to be able to score in close games against a team like that," Celtics head coach Joe Mazzulla said. "They made more shots than us down the stretch."<\/p>\r\n\r\n