OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) — Portland center Jusuf Nurkic is out for Game 1 of the
Trail Blazers’ playoff series at Golden State after missing the last seven games
of the regular season with a nondisplaced fracture in his right leg.
Nurkic arrived at Oracle Arena on Sunday and made his way directly to the
Blazers’ locker room.
Coach Terry Stotts says Nurkic wasn’t ready to return, and he will go with
“center by committee” against the top-seeded Warriors.
Stotts says, “Hopefully he’ll be back at some point in the series.”
Golden State coach Steve Kerr quipped of Nurkic’s absence: “How big is it? …
270 and 7 feet.
“I was kind of expecting he would be out this game and I was kind of expecting
he’d be back the next one.”
