TUALATIN, Ore. — After seeing his team suffer another close loss from the bench on Sunday, Portland Trail Blazers forward LaMarcus Aldridge was back at practice Tuesday.
Although he was limited with a sprained right thumb, the four-time All-Star is probable to return Wednesday when the San Antonio Spurs visit Portland.
Being forced to put off surgery due to a torn ligament of his left thumb, Aldridge said that the thought of having another injury, this time on his dominant hand, messed with his head in Friday’s blowout loss to the Jazz.
“I felt it right when I did it in the game,” Aldridge said about when the injury occurred in the 2nd quarter against the Jazz. “That’s why I kinda like was mentally out of it last game after that happened in the 2nd half. Because I was wondering that it was something serious. After the game it was just sore.”
Aldridge also said that the injury no longer affects his jump shot.
“Last couple of days have been great.” Aldridge said. “I’ve had it on ice and rested so now my shot feels normal. In the Utah game, I felt it in the second half.”
The Blazers are also still in the process of integrating Arron Afflalo, who joined the team on Thursday in a trade with Denver.
“I hope it’s next game,” Afflalo said about when things will start clicking. “Confidence comes from being successful a little bit. You learn from failures, but hopefully I don’t make too many mistakes and hopefully we gain some confidence.”
“It’s going to take five to seven games,” said Aldridge, who has seen players come to Portland before in the midseason. “Because he’s still trying to figure out the offense, where his shots come from.”
Afflalo said that his conditioning is still working its way back because of the extended break.
While head coach Terry Stotts said he wanted to play Afflalo more, he also said that will be determined nightly among Batum, Wesley Matthews and Afflalo.
“It might change a little bit from night to night,” Stotts said. “That’s what I anticipate.”
They Blazers are sixth in adjusted point differential in clutch situations per NBA.com, same as they finished last season.
Over the last 15 games, they have played 11 such games, going 4-7. The numbers point to a shortcoming on defense down the stretch, 130 points per 100 possessions given up per NBA.com.
Stotts does not believe that there is one common thread in their play late in games on either end. Most recently, Portland blew a 13-point lead in the fourth quarter in a 98-92 loss to Memphis on Sunday.
“The answer is, again, different situations.” Stotts said. “There have been games where our defense has dropped in some fourth quarters. I looked at the last time we played Memphis at their place, we gave up 60 in the first half and then 42 in the second.”
Stotts continued: “I am reluctant to say why something happens over a stretch of games. I think our defense has been relatively consistent. But I don’t know if it’s necessarily slippage. We are playing better teams and better teams have a tendency to score better.”
Aldridge says the Blazers have gotten key stops, pointing to a pair of stops late Sunday against Memphis in a stretch where the Blazers came up empty three consecutive times on offense.
“You can’t shut anybody out the whole game, but we’ve been getting big stops, ” he said. “Just haven’t made shots on the other end of it.”
Playing 10 of their last 15 games against teams above .500, Portland’s defense has slipped from great to average and their offensive has struggled mightily.
And even just a small slip can cause major problems against the NBA’s best.
