LaMarcus Aldridge hurt in Blazers’ win over Kings
Photo Credit: BleacherReport.com
The Portland Trail Blazers ended a three-game losing streak with a narrow 98-94 win over the Sacramento Kings on Monday night, but the Blazers lost star power forward LaMarcus Aldridge to a hand injury in the second quarter.
Aldridge suffered the injury when he swiped down on the ball while defending a drive by DeMarcus Cousins. Aldridge had scored 10 points on 4-of-7 shooting in 14 minutes before leaving the game.
X-rays on the hand following the game were negative, but the injury required further evaluation. The prognosis is still unknown at this time.
If Aldridge has to miss any significant time, it would be a tough blow for Portland. The Blazers are already missing their starting center in Robin Lopez due to a hand injury of his own, so not having both members of the starting frontcourt wouldn’t be ideal. Thomas Robinson and Victor Claver would have to soak up minutes at power forward, and it would be a tall order for those two to come even remotely close to replicating what Aldridge brings to the table.
Aldridge is having another monster season, and arguments could be made that he’s a fringe MVP candidate. The big man is averaging 23.2 points and 10.2 rebounds while shooting 46.2 percent from the field on the year. He’s also starting to take more threes, as his 1.1 three-point attempts per game blows away his previous career-high of 0.3 three-point attempts per game. And not only is he taking more threes, but he’s making 51.2 percent of those attempts.
When healthy, Portland is one of the best teams in the league. The usual starting lineup of Aldridge, Lopez, Damian Lillard, Wesley Matthews and Nicolas Batum have outscored opponents by 11.1 points per 100 possessions in 422 minutes, per NBA.com.
The Blazers haven’t been nearly as successful with Chris Kaman taking over the starting center role due to the injury to Lopez. But even despite some recent struggles, Portland still boasts a record of 31-11, which is second-best in the Western Conference behind only the ridiculous Golden State Warriors and third-best in the NBA behind the Warriors and streaking Atlanta Hawks.
Despite the sterling record, Vegas doesn’t seem to believe in the Blazers compared to many of the other teams in the West. Portland has 20/1 odds to win the 2015 NBA title, the eighth-best odds in the conference, according to Bovada. Golden State, San Antonio, Dallas, Oklahoma City, Los Angeles (Clippers), Memphis and Houston all have better odds to win it all.
Because of these odds, the Blazers would be a pretty good team to bet on to win the championship. Portland certainly has a realistic chance to win it all given the talent level on the roster, and the payout would be more lucrative compared to the other contenders.
