Stephon Castle hit for 33 points and rookie reserve Dylan Harper added career bests of 27 points and 10 boards as the visiting San Antonio Spurs roared back to beat the Portland Trail Blazers 120-108 on Friday in Game 3 of a first-round Western Conference playoff series.

San Antonio erased a 15-point third-quarter deficit and took a 2-1 lead in the series. Game 4 is set for Portland on Sunday.

The Spurs won with Victor Wembanyama on the bench after their star player was ruled out before the game because of concussion protocol. He sustained a head injury in the second quarter of Game 2 on Tuesday.

Castle said of what was working for him, “Really everything. I mean, I have this sort of confidence going through me. And, you know, I don’t want to go home. I want our team to win. Obviously, the big fella was out tonight, so we needed a little bit more from everybody.”

The Spurs trailed by six points at halftime and were down 82-67 past the midpoint of the third quarter before roaring back to take an 88-87 lead into the fourth. Harper scored 12 points and grabbed four rebounds in the third to lead the comeback.

Harper then posted San Antonio’s first 10 points of the fourth quarter to help the visitors forge a 15-1 run that built a 108-96 lead with 5:48 to play. The Trail Blazers closed to within nine points on Jrue Holiday’s layup with 2:47 left but would never seriously challenge again.

Asked what changed late in the game, Castle said, “I think our defense and our rebounding. We made an emphasis on that before the game, but we weren’t really doing it the first half that well. We fixed it by not allowing them to get offensive rebounds and get out on the run.”

Portland acting coach Tiago Splitter said of his team’s play in the third and fourth quarters, “We weren’t as involved. (San Antonio was the) most physical team in the second half. They played better. Made shots.

“I think Harper and Castle were unbelievable. Played a very good game, getting to the line, shooting threes, being physical on defense, rebounding, pushing (Clingan) around, all of them, they were more physical than us. Rebounding 50/50 balls. That was the game, and they were just better.”

De’Aaron Fox added 18 points for the Spurs, with Luke Kornet racking up 14 points and 10 rebounds while Devin Vassell contributed 11 points.

Holiday finished with 29 points to lead Portland. Scoot Henderson added 21, Deni Avdija scored 19, Jerami Grant tallied 13 and Robert Williams put up 11 for the Trail Blazers. Donovan Clingan grabbed 11 rebounds and Avdija handed out nine assists.

Portland led 29-27 after the first quarter. San Antonio was up 41-35 before the Trail Blazers rode Holiday’s eight straight points as part of an 18-4 run that produced a 53-45 lead.

Grant’s 3-pointer with 6.9 seconds left allowed Portland to carry a 65-59 lead to the break.

Castle racked up 19 points to lead all scorers in the first half. Holiday’s 17 points paced the Trail Blazers before halftime.

Portland expanded its lead to 15 points after a pair of free throws by Grant with 5:09 to play in the third, but the rest of the quarter belonged to the Spurs.

Holiday said, “This loss hurts, but we got another one on Sunday. Can’t hang your hat on it too low. Maybe take it on the chin tonight, but then tomorrow, back to work.”

–Field Level Media

LeBron James and Marcus Smart recorded double-doubles as the Los Angeles Lakers took a stranglehold on their first-round playoff series against the host Houston Rockets with a 112-108 overtime victory in Game 3 on Friday.

After James (29 points, 13 rebounds) forced OT with a 3-pointer, Smart scored eight of his 21 points in the extra period to put the Lakers up 3-0 in the Western Conference quarterfinal series.

Smart added a team-high 10 assists while Rui Hachimura put up 22 points for the Lakers.

The Lakers will look for a sweep of the best-of-seven set in Game 4 on Sunday at Houston.

“With two of our best players down (Luka Doncic and Austin Reaves), we’ve got to play desperate,” Smart said. “We’ve got to be the most desperate team, and that’s how we’ve been playing. And that’s how we’re winning, right? The chemistry has been good, and you’re starting to see guys’ confidence go up because of that.”

The Rockets were without leading scorer Kevin Durant for the second time in the series. Durant, who missed Game 1 with a knee contusion, was a late scratch due to a left ankle sprain sustained in the fourth quarter of Game 2.

Jabari Smith Jr. (24 points, 6 of 10 from 3-point range) spearheaded Houston’s comeback early in the fourth quarter before Alperen Sengun nearly carried the Rockets to victory in regulation. Sengun converted two late turnovers by James, sinking a layup with 49.6 seconds left, then turning a steal into a transition dunk and a 101-95 lead nine seconds later.

However, the Lakers got late life when Smart made three free throws after absorbing a foul from Jae’Sean Tate with 25.4 seconds left. Then, with the Rockets leading 101-98, James forced a turnover in the backcourt and followed by draining a 3-pointer that knotted the score with 13.6 seconds to go.

Each team missed another shot before regulation ended.

“It’s obviously a weakness of ours to close out and finish,” Houston coach Ime Udoka said. “The amount of mistakes and the types of mistakes are egregious, and you can’t have those. I talk about age all the time … but I’m looking at five years, four years, three years in the league and growing from there and not learning from previous experiences. That was the case there.”

Sengun paced the Rockets with 33 points and 16 rebounds while Amen Thompson chipped in 26 points and 11 rebounds. Reed Sheppard, who gave the Rockets their first lead since the opening quarter with a trey at the 4:59 mark of the fourth quarter, tallied 17 points and seven assists.

The Lakers, Hachimura in particular, fashioned a scorching start to build an early double-digit lead.

Hachimura tallied 16 first-quarter points on 6-for-6 shooting, and he hit a 3-pointer in an 11-0 run that lifted the Lakers to a 34-23 lead. Jaxson Hayes was critical to that spurt, igniting it with a three-point play and capping the run with an alley-oop dunk with 2:20 left in the period. Hayes’ steal resulted in the Hachimura trey, and Smart also sank a 3-pointer during the rally.

The Lakers made that run with James on the bench. He returned and helped the Lakers extend to a 15-point lead. His son, Bronny James, drilled a 3-pointer and converted a reverse layup off a pass from his father.

When the elder James stroked a 3-pointer, the Lakers led 55-43. The margin was 11 at the intermission after the Lakers shot 57.5% from the floor, including 8 of 13 from behind the arc. LeBron James and Hachimura scored 16 apiece in the half.

–Field Level Media

Spurs star center Victor Wembanyama will miss Game 3 of San Antonio’s first-round playoff series against the host Portland Trail Blazers on Friday night as he remains in concussion protocol.

Wembanyama sustained a concussion in the second quarter of Tuesday’s second game of the series. He did not return to the game, but traveled with the team to Portland and was labeled as questionable for Friday until just over an hour from the start of the game.

“Victor is not playing tonight. Obviously there’s a lot that goes into that, but he’s doing well and progressing,” Spurs coach Mitch Johnson said.

Portland won Tuesday’s game 106-103 to level the series at one win apiece.

Wembanyama, who became the NBA’s first unanimous Defensive Player of the Year this season and is one of three finalists for Most Valuable Player, averaged a career-best 25.0 points and 11.5 rebounds per game this season.

He led the league with 3.1 blocks per game and broke Tim Duncan’s franchise record when he scored 35 points in his postseason debut in the Spurs’ 111-98 Game 1 win over the Trail Blazers.

San Antonio was 50-14 in games Wembanyama played this regular season and was 12-6 without him.

–Field Level Media

Jayson Tatum scored 11 of his 25 points in the fourth quarter as the visiting Boston Celtics defeated the Philadelphia 76ers 108-100 on Friday in Game 3 of their first-round playoff series.

Jaylen Brown matched Tatum with 25 points, while Payton Pritchard added 15 points for the second-seeded Celtics, who lead the best-of-seven series 2-1. Derrick White and Nikola Vucevic each chipped in 11 points for Boston.

“We just made the right plays to win, on both ends of the floor,” Celtics coach Joe Mazzulla said. “… (The Sixers) are pushing us. We have to push them. Usually, competition brings out the best in people, and you’re also in two great environments. … You’re just throwing haymakers at each other.”

Tyrese Maxey scored 31 points on 12-of-31 shooting for the seventh-seeded Sixers, who will attempt to even the series Sunday night when the teams reconvene back in South Philly.

Paul George (18 points) and Kelly Oubre Jr. (17) also made key contributions for the hosts, while VJ Edgecombe pitched in with 10 points but shot just 5 of 17, including 0 of 7 from long range. Edgecombe grabbed a game-high 10 rebounds.

“It’s a competitive series,” 76ers coach Nick Nurse said. “I thought we played extremely, extremely hard. I thought we made a few mistakes that you just can’t make in these games. … But I liked the way we competed.”

Early in the third quarter, the Sixers embarked on a 12-0 run to turn a 64-55 deficit into a three-point lead. The Celtics regained the advantage shortly thereafter and went on to lead 79-74 after three quarters, thanks to two 3-pointers by Pritchard late in the session.

Philadelphia trailed 84-80 early in the fourth before Maxey made a tough fadeaway and a 3-pointer to put the Sixers ahead by a point.

However, the visitors responded with eight straight points. Brown found White for a layup before scoring the final four points of the burst, guiding Boston to a 92-85 edge with 5:39 remaining.

George and Andre Drummond helped bring the Sixers within 97-96 with 2:19 left, but Tatum answered with a 3-pointer. Following another Philadelphia bucket, Pritchard drained a 3-pointer at the shot-clock buzzer to make it 103-98 with 1:17 to go.

Philadelphia again made it a one-possession game, but Tatum swished a long 3-pointer with 26.6 seconds left to punctuate his dynamic performance.

Boston made seven 3-pointers in the first quarter en route to a 29-24 lead after 12 minutes.

The Celtics went ahead by double digits early in the second quarter as Baylor Scheierman’s 3-pointer made it 41-31. The Sixers chipped away and got within 47-45 with two minutes left in the half before Boston made a mini-push to bring a 54-47 lead into the locker room.

–Field Level Media