Last season, good health was key to the Portland Trail Blazers' surprising success. In the first half of the season, no Blazers starter missed a game, and the team used just two starting lineups all season. The Blazers lost the second-fewest minutes and wins to injury in the NBA.
While Portland's strong play has carried over to 2014-15, that good health hasn't. The Blazers suffered their latest blow Thursday, when an MRI revealed that star forward LaMarcus Aldridge tore the radial collateral ligament in his left thumb during Monday's win over the Sacramento Kings. Surgery will sideline Aldridge for approximately six to eight weeks.
It would be one thing if Aldridge alone were injured. Portland actually played 13 games without Aldridge last season -- he was the only starter not to play all 82 games -- and went a respectable 8-5 without him. But this time, Aldridge joins starting center Robin Lopez (fractured third and fourth metacarpals, right hand) and backup Joel Freeland (sprained shoulder) on the sideline. While the Blazers hope to get Freeland back in coming days, Lopez may not return before the All-Star break.
Those injuries have left coach Terry Stotts with just three true healthy big men: Chris Kaman, Meyers Leonard and Thomas Robinson. And matters went from bad to worse later Thursday night when starting forward Nicolas Batum left Portland's game with the Boston Celtics after aggravating a sprained wrist he's been playing through. Without all three frontcourt starters for almost the entire second half of the game, the Blazers lost a heartbreaker when Evan Turner made a game-winning 3-pointer with 1.0 second remaining.
The good news is that Portland has built a healthy cushion, particularly in the Northwest Division, leading the Oklahoma City Thunder by eight games. The bad news is the Blazers may need all of it.
Projecting Portland