Portland Trail Blazers guard C.J. McCollum has been making great progress since he sustained a strained left knee injury last month.
McCollum told Casey Holdahl of the Blazers' official website and other members of the press on Wednesday he's almost back in game shape.
Yeah, I can do pretty much a lot of the stuff I was doing before I was injured. I think the biggest thing is just strength-wise. Being in the weight room for 16, 17 days or so just strengthening stuff, working on movements, landing, soft tissue work, strengthening the stuff around the knee, the quads, hamstrings just because of the compensation factor.
You don't want a little tightness, stiffness, TFL, abductors, stuff like that. So just working that stuff out and getting out there, running around and just trying to get back in shape, make sure I'm ready.
McCollum also said he's taking a day-to-day approach in terms of his return to the court, per Holdahl.
I think, having did some stuff today, I'm going to see how my body reacts, try to get through this week, see where I'm at and kind of go from there. When I first got hurt, there were some dates that I kind of circled and I'm getting close to them, so I'll see how I feel.
But the biggest thing for me is to make sure I'm symptom-free, make sure I don't have any lingering issues before I step back on the court.
CJ McCollum gives us an update on his health #ripcity pic.twitter.com/KJZPM0xIi4
— NBC Sports Northwest (@NBCSNorthwest) April 4, 2019
McCollum sustained the knee injury with 7:03 left in the third quarter of the Blazers' 108-103 road loss to the San Antonio Spurs on March 17. He tried to score on a left-handed layup, but the Spurs' Jakob Poeltl blocked it. Poeltl's right foot trapped his left foot and he tumbled out of bounds and clutched his left leg in pain. Two days later, a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) test revealed that the popliteus in his left knee was strained. Doctors say this is a non-serious knee injury, per The Oregonian's Joe Freeman.
Even without McCollum, the Blazers have held their own – they have a 49-28 (.636) win-loss record through April 3. They are just half a game behind the Houston Rockets (50-28) for the third spot in the Western Conference playoff bracket.
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