ESPN’s Kirk Goldsberry believes the Trail Blazers are in for some high-scoring playoff games now that Jusuf Nurkic is out of the lineup. Unfortunately, Goldsberry hypothesizes that the end result may not be pleasing to Blazermaniacs:
Nurkic was having his best season, and the Blazers were at their best when he was in games. Portland’s net rating was plus-10.4 when Nurkic was on the floor and minus-5.0 when he wasn’t. In other words, Portland was a great team with Nurkic and a lottery-level team without him. As the brutal reality of the Nurkic injury sets in, Portland has to find ways to win without him.