Portland’s Jusuf Nurkic Fractures Fibula and Tibia
Center Jusuf Nurkic of the Portland Trail Blazers suffered compound fractures of both the fibula and tibia on his left leg Monday night. The injury occurred during the Trail Blazers double-overtime victory against Brooklyn.
Nurkic jumped to rebound a missed shot and landed awkwardly under the baskets amongst several other players. When he hit the floor, players from the Nets saw how severe the injury was and sprinted off in the opposite direction.
The Moda Center became nearly silent as medical personnel from the Blazers rushed to Nurkic and a stretcher was called for. Blazer teammates Rodney Hood, Al-Farouq Aminu and Damian Lillard help load the 7-foot from Bosnia onto the stretcher.
Lillard said the injury made him nauseous and added that he believes his teammate attempted to tip the rebound in and when he landed and rolled over the star guard said he thought Nurkic had injured his face.
Lillard was reminded of the injury Paul George suffered in 2014 while playing an exhibition game with Team USA that Lillard was playing in.
Nurkic was rushed to the hospital and head coach Terry Stotts called his center’s injury devastating but little else, besides saying that the locker room for the Trail Blazers was silent following the double-overtime win.
The injury is a huge blow to Portland. The Blazers have surged of late despite losing second leading scorer CJ McCollum to a knee injury that has kept him sidelined the last few weeks.
The double-overtime win on Monday clinched a playoff spot for Portland. The Blazers have reached the postseason in six straight seasons.
With Nurkic out, the Blazers will use Enes Kanter, who signed with the team after the New York Knicks waived him and Zach Collins.
Nurkic, who is just 24, is the third leading scorer for the Trail Blazers with an average of 15.4 points per game and leads the team in rebounding with an average of 10.3 per game. In Monday’s game before injuring his leg, Nurkic had scored 32 points and pulled down 16 rebounds.
