It happened so fast, few saw on Thursday the moment the Trail Blazers season changed.
It was a swipe at the ball by Portland center Jusuf Nurkic, a simple act done hundreds of times throughout the course of an NBA game, but this time, on this night, something landed terribly wrong.
After Nurkic pawed at the ball on a drive by Malcolm Brogdon, causing the Indiana guard to pass to teammate Myles Turner, Nurkic recoiled his right hand as if he had touched a hot pan. As play continued, Nurkic briefly looked down at his hand to assess the damage.
He couldn’t tell at that moment, but his right wrist had suffered a fracture, derailing what Nurkic had hoped would be a benchmark season.
Instead of chasing his goal to make the All-Star team, and instead of solidifying himself as the third pillar next to Damian Lillard and CJ McCollum in the franchise hierarchy, Nurkic now would be looking at another rehabilitation.
The Blazers late Thursday…
