The Portland Trail Blazers are one of the NBA's best teams. They hold the third seed in the competitive Western Conference and, with Damian Lillard running the show, will be a tough opponent for any team throughout the playoffs.
One can only imagine how much stronger the team would be if Jusuf Nurkic were healthy. The young center, in the midst of arguably his best NBA season, fractured his leg in late March and will miss the playoffs.
The injury certainly makes a deep playoff run that much more difficult for Portland. Yet, the players, including Lillard, aren't letting it get to them, and they don't want anyone's sympathy. Via Jason Quick of The Athletic (subscription required):
“People want to give us an excuse, but we don’t want it,” Lillard said.
Later in the piece, Lillard discussed the tough playoff matchup ahead of the Trail Blazers. The Oklahoma City Thunder won't be an easy opponent. Damian Lillard is confident in his team, and thinks this season, Portland is ready:
“The worst has already happened,” Lillard said. “It’s like, I got beat up at school already. We went through the hard part, took our loss, had our embarrassment. Now, there’s not as much worry, or concern there. It kind of takes that away. We’ve seen it now.
“We aren’t going to go in there timid, like, ‘what if this happens?’ It’s happened already. I don’t know… we are just more strong about it.”
Nurkic, 24, averaged 15.6 points, 10.4 rebounds and 3.2 assists. He was a huge piece for the Trail Blazers both on offense and defense. In his absence, veteran big man Enes Kanter stepped up. With Portland, he averaged 13.1 points, 8.6 rebounds and 1.4 assists. The team hasn't even missed a beat.
After going 53-29 in the regular season, the Trail Blazers are still a formidable opponent. Even without Nurkic, they remain a serious threat in the West. Damian Lillard will try to make sure this team overcomes its limitations.
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