The Portland Trail Blazers were dealt a severe blow to whatever title hopes they had when Wesley Matthews crumpled to the floor Thursday night. Rip City’s worst fears were realized when the tell-tale sign of a major injury (thinking someone’s kicked you on a non-contact injury) led to the official diagnosis: a season-ending ruptured Achilles tendon.
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Those words are cringeworthy for more reasons than one. LaMarcus Aldridge and Damian Lillard are Portland’s dynamic duo, but the Blazers will not easily replace Matthews’ three-point shooting and perimeter defense.
This is not as simple as inserting Arron Afflalo into the starting lineup, unfortunately. Though he figures to bring the same 3-and-D talents to the starting rotation as Matthews’ replacement, Afflalo has not been on Matthews’ level this season. Afflalo was also meant to be the savior of a bench that’s ranked in the bottom three in the league in scoring in each of the last three seasons.
But as Blazers fans know all too well by now, injuries happen. This one just so happens to be a major blow to Rip City’s chances of reaching the Western Conference Finals for the first time since 2000.
Aldridge on Matthews: "He’s the heart and soul of this team. ...You can’t replace who he is and what he’s meant to this organization ..."
— Joe Freeman (@BlazerFreeman) March 6, 2015
That being said, this loss isn’t insurmountable either. Here’s a look at which players will need to step up for the Blazers in the wake of yet another depressing, season-ending injury.
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