After ending Oklahoma City’s season by winning their first round series 4-1, the Trail Blazers know the “what” (Western Conference semifinals), the “when” (Monday night at 7:30 p.m.) and the “how” (a game-winning, series-ending 37-foot three-pointer from Damian Lillard), but the “who” nor the “where” regarding their second-round playoff matchup is yet to be settled.
It’ll be either the Nuggets, with the first two games being held in Denver, or the Spurs, with the Blazers hosting the first two games a the Moda Center, but that won’t be decided until the cessation of that series, which concludes with a Game 7 Saturday night at the Pepsi Center. Once that series comes to a close, the Blazers will either board a plane sometime Sunday for Denver or spend a few more days at home before hosting the Spurs Monday night.
But knowing whether they will be facing an up-and-coming team on the road or one of the NBA’s old guard at home might not be as important as finding out just how healthy Enes Kanter is going into the Western Conference semifinals. The 6-11 center, who signed as a free agent midway through the season after being waived by the Knicks and has since assumed the starting role at center with Jusuf Nurkic (left leg) out for the foreseeable future, suffered a significant shoulder injury in the first half of Portland’s Game 5 victory, making his status for the next round unknown.
“It’s getting there, it’s a process,” said Kanter prior to Portland’s practice Friday afternoon at their facility in Tualatin. “I think the Blazers doing a very good job taking care of it. Obviously I’m not going to lie, it hurts pretty bad. I’m having a hard time changing my shirt or even eating food. It’s a process, just taking it day-by-day, seeing how it feels.”
Many thought Portland’s season was effectively over after Nurkic went down with a broken left leg a few weeks before the end of the 2018-19 regular season. But while he might not be the player that Nurkic was this season, Kanter more than held his own as a starter in the last eight games of the regular season. That continued through Portland’s first-round matchup with the Thunder, with Kanter putting up 20 points and 18 rebounds to lead Portland to a Game 1 victory before going on to average 13.2 points on 57 percent shooting from the field, 10.2 rebounds and 2.0 assists in 29 minutes per game for the series.
But his status for the next round is tenuous due to the left shoulder injury, which he described as a separation. He said that team doctors told him it would likely heal on its own in roughly a month, but with the second round starting in just a few days, he also noted “you don’t have a month to take off.”
“I just starting doing a little bit of weight lifting today because it’s very tough to raise it above my head,” said Kanter. “So a lot of pool workouts, doing motions in the pool, see how it feels.”
After wearing a sling on his left arm for the last few days, Kanter was seen shooting at practice on Friday, though he also continued to hold his left arm against his left leg for stability as he did during the second half of Game 5. He’s wearing a small protective cushion on his shoulder, though he also removed a small, elastic cover protecting the shoulder due to it cutting into his skin.
If Kanter isn’t able to play in Game 1 or is severely limited, the Trail Blazers will likely look to Zach Collins and Meyers Leonard to fill the void.
“I think, regardless, I need to stay ready,” said Collins, who has averaged 4.8 points on 59 percent shooting from the field and 3.0 rebounds in 13.7 minutes so far during the 2019 Playoffs. “Whatever my role is going to be in this series, I need to be ready to go out there and perform. There’s really no added pressure other than the pressure I put on myself to be ready.”
While Kanter wasn’t exactly optimistic about the status of his shoulder injury, one got the sense that, assuming team doctors and trainers sign off, he plans on playing come Game 1 Monday night. Even though he’s only been a Trail Blazer for the last two months and is going to be an unrestricted free agent come July 1, Kanter said his only focus is the upcoming series, whichever team it might be against.
“It’s always in the back of your head but we in a position now you don’t think about your contract, you don’t think about how much money you’re going to get or you don’t think about where you’re going to sign or re-sign,” said Kanter. “I think the only thing you need to do is go out there and do whatever it takes to just get a win man. I came back for the second half (in Game 5) because when I went to training room, it was hurting pretty bad. Doctor said ‘Can you play?’ and I was like ‘I’m going to try.’ I basically played the whole game with my one arm. Like I said, you don’t think about contracts or anything because it would be very selfish to think about this.”