Portland Trail Blazers fans received some good news on Monday when NBA insider Shams Charania announced that the MRI on guard/forward Rodney Hood's knee came back clean.
MRI on Portland's Rodney Hood injured left knee returned clean and he will be day-to-day toward a return, league sources tell @TheAthleticNBA @Stadium.
— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) May 13, 2019
Hood was injured in the third quarter of Game 7 in the Conference Semi-Finals. He was blindsided by a screen and was forced to leave the game with a knee injury. Hood would later claim that he wanted to return to the game, but the pain was too much to handle.
The fact that Hood could play in Game 1 is huge news for the Blazers. After having little effect in the opening series against the Oklahoma City Thunder, Hood was integral to the Blazers success in the Conference Finals.
The lanky wing averaged 14.7 points per game off the bench against the Nuggets and remained a consistent offensive weapon throughout the series. Hood's play gave the Blazers another scorer besides Damian Lillard and C.J. McCollum, giving the offense more depth.
Without Hood's contribution, Portland's offense becomes fairly one dimensional. The team is heavily reliant on its backcourt scorers, which can be dangerous against an excellent defensive team like the Warriors.
If the Blazers want any chance of reaching the NBA Finals, they will need as close to a fully healthy roster as possible. With the loss of Jusuf Nurkic, many thought Portland was dead in the water. The emergence of Hood and brilliance of Lillard and McCollum has proven otherwise.
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