The Injury Gods Refuse To Leave The Pacers And Blazers Alone

Abbie Parr. Getty Images.

I know injuries happen all the time and to every team in the league for the most part, but for some reason it feels like the Injury Gods will not leave the Blazers and Pacers alone. I'd argue that no team has had to deal with big time injuries to their key players more than those two over the last few seasons. 

In 2018-19 the Blazers were rolling. A top 3 seed and things looked great. Then Jusuf Nurkic broke his leg at the end of March. They still managed to make a run to the WCF, but it was a huge blow. He missed the entire year outside of 8 games last year but looked great putting up 17/10/4 in that short stint. It was more of the same in the playoffs despite losing in 5 to the Lakers. Enter this season. Finally, the Blazers look healthy. That lasted about 12 games before this

How did that happen? On a freak play 

Your heart goes out to a guy that had just come back from his broken leg. Well, to make matters worse, that was only the beginning. Next up? CJ McCollum. A player who was off to the best starts of his career. I'm talking over 26/4/5 on 47/44% splits with 4.8 3PM a night. It finally looked like McCollum would get the All Star nod he's been missing so far in his career. Wel……

How did it happen? Another freak incident

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I imagine it does not feel great to have a 7 footer land directly on your foot, but also what are the fucking chances of that? I feel for Blazers fans man, especially since the West is still so close. They're still in the ballpark of a top 3 seed, but you lose two of your best players for a long stretch and I'm not sure how they stay afloat. Their defense isn't good enough I feel like. Dame can only do so much by himself in such a competitive conference.

Then we have the Pacers. Another team that can't seem to get away from this injury bug. First, it was Victor Oladipo's horrific injury, then Jeremy Lamb tore his ACL right before the shutdown. Then TJ Warren, their darling of the bubble goes out with a foot injury to start this season. Now? It came for Myles Turner

This is a huge blow to the Pacers, no other way to say it. Yes, they still have Sabonis who is turning into an All NBA caliber player, but Myles Turner was having a DPOY type season. He was blocking EVERYTHING. His 12/6 averages are about where he's always been, but he is shooting 47% from the floor and the impact he's making on the defensive end was a big part of the reason the Pacers currently have a top 4 seed and a top 10 defense. Unfortunately, it's not like the Pacers have a ton of depth at this position. It's basically Goga Bitadaze and that's it. Maybe this will be more like when Hayward fractured his hand and was able to play? I certainly hope so.

It all just sucks. I know injuries are part of the game but it does feel like these two teams have been dealt a shitty ass hand. In a shortened season, these things mean more. Does it change what either now do at the trade deadline? Seeding is so close that when you combine this with any potential covid related absence, you could argue these are league changing injuries. It blows.

Injuries at any point in the season suck, but it stings a little more when these really good players are getting sidelined just as the season got started. For these two teams and their fanbases, I imagine they've had enough of this shit.