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Portland Trailblazers
With six seconds remaining in the fourth quarter against the Houston Rockets, Portland Trail Blazers guard Brandon Roy drove into the lane, leaped acrobatically–somehow managing to knife between two defenders–and scooped in a right-handed layup while falling to the floor. The Blazers held a 90-89 lead in a back-and-forth battle, and would win by that margin. But despite the jubilation that spread through the Rose Garden, their was a definitive sense of emptiness. Portland had won, but lost something much more important.
Midway through the first quarter, Rockets guard Aaron Brooks drove to the basket from the left wing. Blazers center Greg Oden was waiting for a chance to swat his attempt, and leaped as Brooks leaped. As he was coming down, having not blocked Brooks’ layup, he yelped in pain, then fell to the floor, writhing as Houston’s training staff rushed to his aid. The Blazers staff followed, accompanied by the team doctor, as Oden clutched his knee. The crowd chanted his name, not knowing the seriousness of his injury, hoping to rally him to his feet. But he wouldn’t get up. He couldn’t get up.
Then, the crowd went silent. Something was terribly wrong, and they now knew it. He lay in agony as a stretcher came out of the tunnel, his kneecap twisted squeamishly off to the right side. He did not appear to make contact with Brooks on the play. As he made his jump, his kneecap dislocated and stayed out of its socket as he fell to the ground, refusing to pop back in on its own.
With the broken left kneecap, the Blazers best defensive player, the former 1st overall pick in the 2007 NBA Draft, is lost for the season. This devastating injury occurred not four minutes into the game. Houston followed with a 7-0 run, but Portland battled back, cutting the margin to three at halftime.
For the remainder of the game, the Blazers plugged in Joel Przybilla as their starting center, and he played admirably. Everyone who suited up for Portland did. They were forced to go extremely small in spurts, considering they have no other center. But the Blazers made it work with a little help from the Rockets, a team that lacks a player over 6′10″ in height.
Missing guard Rudy Fernandez as well, who was a scratch due to sciatic pain, Portland relied heavily on their point guards, most notably Andre Miller and Jerryd Bayless. The duo made 13-20 field goals and scored 37 points. This production came in the first three quarters and the first few minutes of the fourth. The rest of the game belonged to LaMarcus Aldridge and Roy.
This combination was marvelous down the stretch, scoring the Blazers final fourteen points, capped off by Roy’s whirling dervish.
The Blazers collected a huge win, given they had lost their previous three games. But they didn’t celebrate for long. They lost a player immensely responsible for their success, a player that had made significant strides offensively, and had been his usual dominant self defensively. They lost their heart, determination, fire, and soul. They lost an irreplaceable portion of their identity. They lost their center, a player that had worked so hard to become one of the best at his position.
The dagger would have been thrust deeper if Roy’s off-balance winner hadn’t kissed off the glass and fell through. But his game-winning basket did not ease the pain of losing Oden.
The big man somehow managed to be upbeat after suffering the injury: “I’m obviously disappointed having worked so hard to get to where I was. This is a setback, but I’ll be back.” And everyone–the fans that watched his fall from afar and those that chanted his name at the Rose Garden; the players and coaches, those that stood by his side; the commentators, Mike Barrett and Mike Rice, the duo that depressingly called his deflating, season-altering collapse–will anxiously await his return to dominance as a member of the Portland Trail Blazers.
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A detailed account of Oden’s injury
Oden fractured his left kneecap, most likely ending his season. What a sad, sad sight.
As he was carted off the floor, a fan stretched out his hand beyond the rallying as Oden rolled by. The gentle giant shook it.
Pritchard’s praise of Oden: “He’s a great kid. I can’t tell you how much of a great kid. He’ll pull through this. I know him. He’s a tough kid and he cares. I’m telling you that he was more interested in the score of the game than how he was. I’ve never seen anything like that.”
Aldridge’s reaction: “He came back in and he was like, ‘I couldn’t leave without saying you all better win this game.’ He came back and still showed his funny side.”
After the injury, Oden took an MRI, revealing the break, then apologized to his teammates at halftime for getting injured.
Roy remained confident: “This is an opportunity for guys. Let’s make something out of nothing. Now, nobody expects anything out of us. So let’s try to do something great.”
In an article by the Oregonian’s Joe Freeman, there is further information on Oden’s injury, including an examination of how it happened.
What now for Portland? ESPN’s John Hollinger searches for answers.
Video of Oden’s injury:
Reaction from head coach Nate McMillan:
Reaction from General Manager Kevin Pritchard:
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