Late in the third quarter against the Chicago Bulls in one of the Portland Trail Blazers' most lopsided wins of the season, the team's center in Jusuf Nurkic went down with a leg injury. According to Blazers courtside reporter Brooke Olzendam of NBCS Northwest, Nurkic suffered a left quad contusion and had to exit for the remainder of the game.
Left quad contusion for Jusuf Nurkic. #RipCity
— Brooke Olzendam (@brookeolzendam) February 1, 2018
Here is a video of the play where Nurkic was believed to have sustained the injury, as he was defending in the lane when he stepped awkwardly. It is unclear how much time Nurkic will have to miss, so the Blazers will likely give an update on Thursday morning about his condition going forward.
As for the Blazers, in their 124-108 pounding of the Bulls on Wednesday night at Moda Center, franchise history was made. Portland's shooting guard C.J. McCollum, who finished with a whopping 50 points on 18-of-25 shots from the field, scored 28 points in the first quarter to set a franchise record for most points scored in one frame.
Additionally, McCollum became just the second player in the shot clock era to score at least 50 points in less than 30 minutes of action. Even Blazers head coach Terry Stotts could not believe what he was seeing from McCollum in front of the home crowd.
“I don't know what the right word is, but a very impressive outing for CJ,” coach Stotts told reporters after the game. “What he did in the first quarter was amazing. It was fun to sit back and watch that.”
With the win, the Blazers are now 29-22, taking a four-game winning streak into the month of February.
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