It has been a tough season for the Portland Trail Blazers. They are at 23 wins and 32 losses, and currently 10th in the Western Conference, and four and a half games back of the Golden State Warriors for the final spot in the play-in tournament.
On Wednesday, the news got tougher for the Trail Blazers as it was reported by Joseph Luca Casciaro of The Score that center DeAndre Ayton of Nassau, Bahamas would be out at least a month with a left calf strain. Ayton suffered the injury on Monday in a 146-117 Trail Blazers loss to the Denver Nuggets in the first of two consecutive games against Denver. Without Ayton on Wednesday, the Trail Blazers simply could not stop Nuggets point guard Jamal Murray of Kitchener, Ontario despite scoring 121 points of their own. Murray set a record for the most points ever scored by a Canadian in a game (55) in a 132-121 Denver win at Denver’s Ball Arena.
Ayton, who will have his calf re-evaluated before returning to play, is averaging 14.4 points per game, 10.2 rebounds per game, one block per game, and 1.6 assists per game. He also has a field goal percentage of .566, free throw percentage of .667, and .188 three point percentage.
The fact that Ayton has 20 double-doubles this season cannot be overlooked. That is the most on the Trail Blazers entire team. On February 3, Ayton had a very impressive double-double indeed. He had 25 points and 20 rebounds in a 121-119 Portland win over the Phoenix Suns. That was tied with Portland rookie center Donovan Clingan of Bristol, Connecticut for the most rebounds by a Trail Blazers player in a game this season.
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