SAN ANTONIO -- The Portland Trail Blazers have been lucky enough to avoid serious injury this season, though that run of good health might have come to an end Saturday night in San Antonio.
Trail Blazers guard CJ McCollum sustained an injury to his left knee after taking contact from Spurs center Jakob Poeltl on a drive at the 7:03 mark of the third quarter.
"I went for a layup, a left hand layup," said McCollum. "(Poeltl) blocked it, landed on my foot, kind of trapped my foot on the ground, felt my knee kinda twist. Some pain."
In obvious pain and grabbing his left leg, stayed down on the court for several minutes before he was helped to the locker room by teammates.
McCollum did not return to the game, which the Trail Blazers would ultimately go on to lose 108-103. X-rays taken after the game came back negative, and McCollum said he didn’t feel nor hear a “pop,” after Poeltl landed on his first, though an MRI, scheduled for Sunday morning in Portland, will give more insight into the extend of the injury.
“I can walk, but I’m not sure what the extend of it is,” said McCollum. “Obviously on the replay it’s hard to kind of see it because my foot gets trapped and then his body is there. But there’s some discomfort, some pain in certain areas… It’s definitely around my knee but I don’t know the extent of it. I don’t know if it’s lateral, I just know that it’s not normal.”
After breaking the fifth metatarsal in his left foot his rookie season and the index finger on his right hand in his second season, McCollum has been mostly injury-free, playing at least 80 games in each of his last three seasons. The 6-3 guard out of Lehigh has played and started in all 67 games this season, though that streak will likely end when the Trail Blazers face the Pacers Monday night at the Moda Center.
“I mean, you never want to get hurt, especially at this point in the season,” said McCollum. “But there’s nothing I can do about it but rehab and I’ll see what they say.”
The 6-3 guard in his sixth season out of Lehigh is averaging 21.5 points on 46 percent shooting, 4.1 rebounds and 2.9 assists in 67 games, all starts, this season.