They had just clinched a playoff spot, though there were no cheers or celebrations from the Portland Trail Blazers. Instead, just silence and prayers for Jusuf Nurkic. The gruesome injury suffered by their center overshadowed everything else on Monday night.
“Devastating,” Blazers coach Terry Stotts said of the injury. Nurkic had 32 points and 16 rebounds before suffering his left leg injury in the second overtime, as the Blazers outlasted the Brooklyn Nets 148-144.
“It made me sick to my stomach,” Blazers guard Damian Lillard said of Nurkic’s injury. “As I was walking over there, I saw everyone else turn around real quick and walk away, and then I look and I saw his leg.”
The 24-year-old, 7ft center was hurt when his leg bent awkwardly as he battled for an offensive rebound. His leg was immobilized and he was removed on a stretcher while surrounded by members of both teams. Nurkic was then transferred to a local hospital and the team said he sustained compound fractures to his left tibia and fibula.
After the injury, the Blazers made enough plays to get the win, but then reality hit. “He wouldn’t want us to say, ‘All right, let’s feel sorry for ourselves and feel sorry for Nurk and not care as much,”’ Lillard said. “So we’re going to finish the job, try to get the game, but I think after the game, that’s when it kicks in.”
The Blazers held a collective moment of silence and prayer for Nurkic in the locker room following the game. “I’m just going to go home and pray for him,” Blazers center Enes Kanter said. “This is bigger than basketball. We clinched the playoff spot but we can’t even celebrate. He was a big part of our family. Not our team, our family.”
The Nets, who watched guard Caris LeVert wheeled off the court after an injury earlier this season, had the same concern for Nurkic. “That’s what our guys are talking about in the locker room,” Nets coach Kenny Atkinson said. “Not the game or the loss. They’re talking about a player who was having a great game and a heck of a player so you just pray it’s not a long-term thing and he can bounce back. It just takes the wind out of your sails.”
The Blazers are already without starting shooting guard CJ McCollum. “You never want to see that with your friend or your teammate, and then especially as a player, you don’t want to see anyone have to go through that and it’s also going to be hard on our team,” Lillard said. “CJ’s already out, now [Nurkic] having a tough injury, so every way you look at it, it was a blow.”
