Oden expected to miss rest of season with broken patella
PORTLAND — Portland Trail Blazers center Greg Oden went down. The Rose Garden became silent. And the Blazers’ once promising season was delivered a major, unexpected blow.
Oden fractured the patella in his left knee Saturday night. He will undergo surgery to address the injury, and likely will miss the remainder of the season, the Blazers said.
“I’m obviously disappointed having worked so hard to get where I was,” Oden said in a team-released statement. “This is a setback, but I’ll be back.
“It’s in God’s hands now. I want to thank the fans, my teammates and everyone in the Blazers family for all of their good thoughts.”
Oden’s injury occurred with 7:45 left in the first quarter of a contest the Blazers won, 90-89, before a sold-out crowd of 20,555.
Brandon Roy, who scored a game-high 28 points, sank a shot with 3 seconds remaining to help Portland (13-8) end a three-game losing streak.
Oden was attempting to defend a layup attempt by Houston Rockets guard Aaron Brooks. The center immediately fell to the ground after colliding with Brooks, grabbed his knee, and began writhing in pain.
However, Oden did not appear to hurt his knee when he hit Brooks — the injury seemed to occur when Oden first jumped in the air.
Blazers general manager Kevin Pritchard referred to Oden’s injury as being the “non-impact” type.
“For him to go through this, it’s just unfortunate for him,” Portland coach Nate McMillan said. “Because he worked hard to get through this year.”
Blazers teammates such as Roy, Steve Blake, Martell Webster and LaMarcus Aldridge hovered around Oden while he was attended to by medical staff members, and the Rose Garden crowd chanted his name on several occasions.
Oden stayed on the floor for eight minutes. A stretcher was then wheeled out and he was carried off the court.
Oden was later brought to the Rebound Orthopedic facility in the Rose Quarter for a magnetic imaging resonance test before an announcement was made about his injury.
“He felt like he was letting everybody down,” Roy said. “But I told him, ‘You can’t think like that.’ (He’s) just got to do his best to get healthy, and we’ll do our best to continue to play basketball.”
Oden came into Saturday’s game averaging 11.7 points, 8.8 rebounds and 2.4 blocks per contest, while shooting 60.5 percent from the field. He left the game with three rebounds and zero points in four minutes of action.
The Blazers center recorded a career-high 20 rebounds Tuesday in Portland’s 107-100 home loss to the Miami Heat, and was playing the best basketball of his professional career before the injury.
“Tonight was a setback, there’s no doubt about that,” said Pritchard, who added that the loss of Oden felt like a “punch to the gut.”
Oden was chosen by the Blazers with the No. 1 overall pick in the 2007 NBA Draft. He missed his first year following microfracture surgery on his right knee, and struggled with injuries during an inconsistent rookie season.
But Oden worked hard last summer to shed weight, strengthen his body and improve his game. He achieved all his goals. His early season success had forced McMillan to alter Portland’s offense to make room for Oden’s ascension.
But Oden’s injury changes everything.
A Blazers season that began with promise and high expectations has been derailed by major injuries. Forwards Travis Outlaw, Nicolas Batum and Jeff Pendergraph are all inactive, as is guard Patty Mills. Outlaw and Batum are not expected to return to action until at least February, while Pendergraph has yet to play this season.
Aldridge, Rudy Fernandez and even McMillan have also battled injuries this season.
But Oden’s setback is unquestionably the biggest to date. And it left Pritchard wondering if he would have to make a move to replace Oden and keep the Blazers’ flickering hopes alive.
“Any time you lose a player of Greg’s stature, you’re not going to be as good,” Pritchard said.
