PORTLAND – There’s really no delicate way to put this, but Ryan Anderson did his best by borrowing from a colorful recent quote by Indianapolis Colts backup quarterback Matt Hasselbeck, as the power forward described the stomach illness that kept him out of the New Orleans Pelicans’ weekend back-to-back games.
“In the words of Matt Hasselbeck, it was coming out of the basement and the attic,” Anderson said after Monday’s shootaround at Moda Center. “(I feel) a million, million times better than I was feeling a few days ago. That was a rough day. It was really rough and took a lot out of me. It was a 48- to 72-hour bug, so I’m passed that timeframe so you guys (the media) can’t catch it from me. My body is still kind of getting back to normal, but it felt really good to run around today.”
Anderson is fine and will play against Portland tonight, after being forced to miss Friday’s home game vs. Washington and Saturday’s road defeat at Chicago. Anderson did not travel to the Windy City due to the ailment, but flew cross-country Sunday and arrived in Oregon last night.
The fourth-year member of the Pelicans said he received text messages from concerned teammates Friday when Anderson did not come to the Smoothie King Center. With Anderson’s name appearing in trade rumors on various websites, he indicated that the other Pelicans may have been worried about his status.
“It was funny, immediately when I didn’t show up for the game, I got a few texts from a few teammates,” said Anderson, good-naturedly. “I got a feeling that might be what they were thinking. Word spreads pretty quickly nowadays, a lot like this virus.”
Other notes from shootaround:
New Orleans has not won at Portland since the 2013-14 branding change to becoming the “Pelicans,” including falling in the second game of this regular season. Trail Blazers guard C.J. McCollum racked up 37 points, which remains his career high.
“This crowd is great. The environment is always loud, the fans are into it,” Anderson said of the difficulty of playing in Portland’s home venue, again on a typically brisk Oregon day during basketball season. “You’ve got to warm yourself up and get ready to go, but mostly it’s this environment. It’s a great environment."