Лучший игрок команды Portland “Trail Blazers”…
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The rebound was grabbed by LaMarcus Aldridge and forwarded out to Damian Lillard. By the time it reached Wesley Matthews, there was one step remaining in his season. When he tried to explode past Dallas’ Dirk Nowitzki, Matthews’ left Achilles tendon snapped.
Later that night Aldridge looked both numb and resolute as he listed all of the good things that his Trail Blazers would be missing from Matthews. “He’s the heart and soul of the team,” said Aldridge in the Portland locker room last week. “He sets the tone for us in every way, talking to guys and keeping everybody in it. So he does everything for this team.”
He spoke as if these were the latest qualities he was going to have to take on, in addition to his team-leading 23.2 points and 10.5 rebounds this season.
Matthews, his closest friend among the Blazers and the leading source of their inspiration, would have to be replaced. Aldridge, the best player on the team, was going to have to do more in order to replace him.
The future had become instantly more difficult. But then, Aldridge appears to prefer it that way.
Playing through the pain
Aldridge wasn’t supposed to be in uniform on the night of his friend’s injury last week. In the days after Jan. 19, when he had been forced out of the game after trying to steal the ball from DeMarcus Cousins, Aldridge was doubting whether he would be back anytime soon. “It was like a very sharp pain that I had never felt before,” he said. “I knew it was something serious. I couldn’t even hold the ball. I was shaking my hand, it just blew up. Once all the blood cleared out, then we saw it was a tear.”
He was diagnosed with a radial collateral ligament tear in his left thumb. It was announced that he would undergo surgery which would sideline him for six to eight weeks. In his absence the Trail Blazers lost at Phoenix and then at home to the sub-.500 Celtics. Aldridge could see the impact of his absence, as if they were revealing his importance from a new point of view.
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