Injured, LaMarcus Aldridge & Nic Batum Sit Out Second Half

Saturday, March 21, 2015

Andrew R Tonry, GoLocalPDX Contributor

GRIZZLIES 97, BLAZERS 86

Portland F Nic Batum (low back pain) and F LaMarcus Aldridge (left hand injury) will not return.
— Trail Blazers PR (@TrailBlazersPR) March 22, 2015

The Blazers ended the second quarter down by nine points.

Then came the really bad news.

LaMarcus Aldridge and Nicolas Batum would not start the second half. Each sat out the remainder of the game, nursing injury.

Aldridge appeared to hurt his left hand. In January, Aldridge suffered a tear of a thumb ligament, but opted to postpone surgery until the offseason. X-rays were negative.

Batum, the Blazers said, was experiencing lower back pain.

The remaining Blazers fought valiantly, cutting a deficit that reached 18 down to seven, but simply didn't have the talent to overcome the second-place Grizzlies. Memphis won, 97-86, sweeping the season series.

The defeat was Portland's fourth straight, their longest longest losing streak since March of last season.

The Blazers were also without Chris Kaman, who did not play after suffering a shoulder strain in Friday's game against Orlando.

The Blazers now return to Portland, where they host the Warriors on Tuesday.

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N/A	LaMarcus Aldridge Incomplete -- Left Hand Injury
N/A	Nicolas Batum Incomplete -- Lower Back Pain
C+	Robin Lopez Lopez fought hard all game against the out-sized and hyper talented front line of Zach Randolph and Marc Gasol. It got even harder once Aldridge went out. Lopez finished with eight points and seven rebounds.
D+	Arron Afflalo In a game like this, with the Blazers clearly needing a boost, one would hope Afflalo would've step up. He didn't. He took just six shots in 36 minutes, and made half of them. He finished with eight points and three rebounds.
B	Damian Lillard Lillard started slow, Saturday, but really got going in the second half with Aldridge and Batum out. Attacked and attacked, and just didn't have the help. He finished with 27 points, seven assists, three rebounds and five turnovers.
B+	CJ McCollum McCollum attacked fearlessly, and made some difficult shots. At one point he even challenged--and scored on--the tenacious wing defender Tony Allen. McCollum, who made 2-of-5 from distance, finished with 13 points and six rebounds.