Trail Blazers-Spurs takeaways: Scoot Henderson's emergence crucial as Portland capitalizes on Victor Wembanyama's absence

SAN ANTONIO — When San Antonio Spurs superstar Victor Wembanyama jogged to the locker room Tuesday night at 8:57 of the second quarter after his face slammed to the floor, everything changed for San Antonio. He was ruled out for the game shortly after entering concussion protocol, and the Spurs were forced to regroup. They led by double-digits late in the fourth quarter, but couldn’t find any consistent offense down the stretch as Portland stayed steady and out-shot and outworked San Antonio in Game 2 to claim a 106-103 victory that evened the first-round playoff series.

Here are the key takeaways for how the Trail Blazers capitalized on their big opportunity Tuesday night: Life without Wemby With Wembanyama ruled out early in the second quarter, Spurs head coach Mitch Johnson turned to a seldomly used lineup to keep his team afloat: Dylan Harper, Stephon Castle, Devin Vassell, Julian Champagnie and Luke Kornet. The combination of four guards and Kornet played just 29 minutes together this season, but outperformed teams by a +12. 6 net rating — as well as operated at a pace that would rank at the top of the league.

The drawbacks to a lack of size against one of the larger playoff teams around were apparent, but the benefits and potential tradeoffs were too tantalizing to ignore. All four guards are capable of initiating and finishing plays, can create for others as well as themselves and can space the floor. At the other end, what they lack in size they make up for in speed, smarts and connectivity.

San Antonio played Portland evenly for the remainder of the half and those players helped the Spurs extend their lead in the fourth quarter, something to monitor moving forward depending on how many non-Wembanyama minutes the Spurs will play in the coming days. Unfortunately with no Wemby available, the smallish Spurs were exploited on the glass late and the offense collapsed down the stretch as the squad seemed to lack the connectivity and familiarity that had been its hallmark. The emergence of Scoot Henderson Around the six-minute mark of the first quarter, Blazers guard Scoot Henderson drilled his second 3 of the game, giving him 10 early points and the Blazers a surprise 22-9 lead over the Spurs.