The Bounce: Wemby’s concussion shakes up the playoff picture

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This would have been the 60th birthday of Charles Shackleford, an NBA journeyman of the 1980s and ‘90s, who died in 2017. Shackleford played in six NBA seasons from 1988 to 1999 but also found success as a champion in Europe and was one of the best rebounders overseas. He played for four different teams (the Nets, 76ers, Wolves and Hornets). But he’s most famous for this quote: “I can shoot with my left hand. I can shoot with my right hand. I’m amphibious.” RIP and happy birthday, Shack.

Wemby watch

Spurs superstar suffers concussion

About three minutes into the second quarter of last night’s Game 2 against the Blazers, Victor Wembanyama went down. After Jrue Holiday tried to “pull the chair” on Wemby during a defensive possession and fouled him in the process, the Spurs superstar lost his balance, fell and hit his face hard on the ground. He stayed down for a little bit before looking like he was in pain and out of it. Wembanyama immediately went to the locker room and did not return.

He was diagnosed with a concussion. He’s not allowed to return to full participation with the team for 48 hours, but after 24 hours he’ll be allowed to start gradually resuming activity as long as his symptoms don’t get worse. He’ll have to meet several benchmarks in this ramp-up to playing again and then get cleared by both the team doctor and the league’s protocol director.

Now what?

The Spurs don’t play again until Friday night, which is roughly 72 hours from the diagnosed concussion. In theory, he could be back for that game. However, concussions don’t exactly work that way. Injury expert Jeff Stotts posted on social media that the average time lost in the NBA to concussion is 9.3 days, but the median is seven days. There is no mandatory timeframe to complete this concussion protocol, and Stotts pointed out it’s “primarily due to the variability associated with concussions.”

There’s a quick turnaround between Games 3 and 4 in Portland, with Game 4 happening on Sunday. And we don’t know how airplane travel will factor into any of this evaluation with Wemby if he does get over the symptoms quickly enough to get back to action this weekend. Even with the series tied 1-1, the Spurs need to be careful and prioritize his health over these playoffs.

For how the series became tied, scroll down.

The last 24

🏀 Gordon opens up. Aaron Gordon’s brother died nearly two years ago. He discussed how it has affected him with our Mirin Fader. 

🐂 Stepping down. Bulls ownership has been adamant that the next front office needs to support Billy Donovan as head coach. Donovan just stepped down as Chicago’s coach. 

🗃️ Value surge? There has been a surge in a certain player’s basketball cards recently. A $96 Greg Oden card just went for over $7,000. 

📚 Coming back. Florida wing Thomas Haugh was a projected first-round draft pick and potentially a lottery guy. He’s coming back for his senior year.

Stream the NBA on Fubo (try it for free!) and catch out-of-market games on League Pass.

About last night

Do the Rockets even want to be here?

Let’s review last night’s Game 2s:

Blazers 106, Spurs 103: Series tied at 1-1

Read the takeaways from The Athletic. Here are mine.

Wembanyama’s status. Obviously, his absence changes so much for both teams. The Spurs can play without him, but they have to make up for a lot.
Scoot can play! Scoot Henderson looked good in Game 1. He looked great in Game 2. Feisty defense and 31 points on 11-of-17 shooting. Playoff performer.
Toumani Camara did all the little things. Deni Avdija seems physically hurt. So Camara hitting the boards, forcing turnovers and playing defense was huge.

Who played huge in this game? Robert Williams III. He had the big alley-oop dunk at the end, but his shot-blocking, rebounding and ball movement were needed in this ugly game.

Who came up short for the Spurs? Steph Castle and De’Aaron Fox. Castle had 17 points on 7-of-20 shooting and missed so many short-range jumpers. Fox struggled so much against Holiday and Camara. He has to establish his scoring.

How concerned should the Spurs be? Fairly concerned. The Spurs can still win this series without Wemby. But their cheat code is gone, and they have to play a tougher, smarter game on offense now.

PPM: 🚨🚨 for Portland | 🚨🚨🚨 for San Antonio

Lakers 101, Rockets 94: Lakers lead series 2-0

Read the takeaways from The Athletic. Here are mine.

No Luka Dončić. No Austin Reaves. The Lakers are just playing loose basketball with a lot of energy that the Rockets can’t match.
The Rockets can’t stand each other. Not to sound too internet-y, but their vibes are terrible. They’re actively bickering and arguing after mistakes constantly.
Luke Kennard and LeBron James are unstoppable. Kennard was the hero in Game 1, and he followed with 23 in Game 2. LeBron (28-8-7) is orchestrating perfectly.

Who played huge in this game? Marcus Smart. He knocked down five 3-pointers on his way to 25 points, harassed everybody on defense and moved the ball. His energy has been so disruptive to what the Rockets want to do.

Who came up short for the Rockets? Ime Udoka. Does this team run anything? Are you incapable of devising a plan to dissect a defense against Deandre Ayton, Kennard and 41-year-old LeBron? The coaching strategy of just glaring at your players isn’t working.

How concerned should the Rockets be? Extremely. Kevin Durant came back from a knee injury, and this team looks just as pathetic on offense. Literally everything has to improve.

PPM: 🚨🚨🚨🚨🚨 for Houston.

76ers 111, Celtics 98: Series tied 1-1

Read the takeaways from The Athletic. Here are mine.

VJ Edgecombe was awesome. He passed Magic Johnson as the youngest player to have 30 or more points and 10 or more rebounds in a playoff game.
Philly found its shots. After going 4-of-23 from deep in Game 1, the Sixers shot 19-of-39 from downtown in Game 2. Edgecombe (six) and Tyrese Maxey (five) each hit.
Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum were good. Brown scored 36 points efficiently and Tatum had 19 points, 14 boards and nine assists. But they received zero help.

Who played huge in this game?. Let’s go back to Edgecombe. He was flying all over the court and knocking down 3-pointers. His activity crashing the boards and putting pressure on the interior was huge.

Who came up short for the Celtics? Celtics role players. Players not named Jaylen Brown were 8-of-38 from deep. Payton Pritchard, Derrick White and Sam Hauser combined for 18 points on 28 shot attempts.

How concerned should the Celtics be? Not terribly… yet. We’ve seen this in the past with the Celtics having a great shooting game and following it with a terrible one. They can’t go down 2-1, though.

PPM: 🚨🚨 for Boston | 🚨🚨 for Philadelphia

Since we’re here, let’s do a quick preview of tonight’s Game 2s. All times Eastern.

Magic at Pistons, 7 p.m. (ESPN) | Magic lead 1-0

Something to look for: How much offensive punch do the Pistons have outside of Cade Cunningham? Mostly, this will center around whether Jalen Duren can feast.

Suns at Thunder, 9:30 p.m. (ESPN) | Thunder lead 1-0

Something to look for: Whether the Suns can get their role players going. Devin Booker can’t do it by himself, and Dillon Brooks tried to do too much in Game 1. Role guys must find open looks

Clutch points

Should SGA’s award be a bigger deal?

As Shai Gilgeous-Alexander waits to find out if he’s won his second straight MVP award, the NBA announced yesterday that he won his first Clutch Player of the Year award. The award was introduced before the 2022-23 season, with media members voting on a list of players provided by the NBA. The 65-game rule does not apply to this, so you can play in 64 games or fewer and still be deemed the most clutch. You just can’t be the Most Valuable.

SGA ran away with the award this year, garnering 96 of the 100 first-place votes. He also received a second- and third-place vote, meaning he was left off two ballots. That’s pretty curious, considering Gilgeous-Alexander led the NBA in clutch points with 175 despite playing in the fewest clutch games (27) of the top four total clutch-points leaders. Clutch is defined as a game within five points in the final five minutes of the fourth quarter or overtime.

He also made a ridiculous 60.9 percent of his 2-point shots and led the Thunder to a 20-7 record in the 27 clutch games. Maybe the people who excluded him from their ballots thought he didn’t play in enough games? I’m not sure. But he got my first-place vote.

This award is still very new, and SGA is the fourth winner in its four years. De’Aaron Fox, Steph Curry and Jalen Brunson won it the previous three years, and each time it came with very little fanfare. It feels like this award should be a bigger deal, considering the arguments about the stars who are most clutch flooding the internet at all times.

Maybe the difficult part about making it feel like a major award is that it’s not debated throughout the year. If the NBA didn’t have to release a list for the media to know who to consider, then maybe it would be talked about throughout the regular season. Of course, without the list, you might have voting chaos ensue. Maybe that’s what’s needed? It just feels like this should be a bigger award