Portland Trail Blazers: 3 takeaways from Game 4 loss vs. Nuggets

3. A rough night for the injured

After Friday’s quadruple-overtime epic, it was fair to question who would come into this game with fresh legs. The people of most concern were forward Maurice Harkless and center Enes Kanter. Harkless’ sprained ankle and Kanter’s separated shoulder were only aggravated by the extended minutes. How would that affect their play in Game 4?

Apparently, they were affected quite a bit. Both players struggled mightily throughout the game. Harkless finished with four points on 1-of-5 shooting along with two turnovers, four fouls and a -12 plus/minus in just over 17 minutes of play.

Kanter came away with five points on 2-of-5 shooting, four turnovers, four fouls and a -11 plus/minus in 29 minutes. His second half was particularly rough, going scoreless in 13 minutes with three turnovers, two fouls and a -7 plus/minus.

Both Harkless and Kanter have fought to stay in this series, but they simply couldn’t deliver the production in this game. It’s hard to say how to move forward with this. Both are key role players and will likely keep playing until they simply can’t anymore. However, pushing harder could worsen their injuries. This is a conundrum the team will have to figure out quickly with Game 5 on Tuesday.