Portland Trail Blazers starting power-forward Zach Collins will miss at least Game 1 of the team’s playoff series against the Los Angeles Lakers on Tuesday.
Trail Blazers coach Terry Stotts announced Monday that Collins is suffering from an inflated ankle. Collins injured his ankle during Saturday’s victory at Memphis. Stotts said he could not say exactly how long Collins would be out.
“There’s pain in the top of his ankle that hurts when he runs,” said Stotts, who also announced that little forward Nassir Little (dehydration) would also not play on Tuesday.
Collins finished the Memphis game with three points and one rebound in seven minutes.
His absence will surely mean more minutes for backup center Hassan Whiteside. Portland experimented with him playing alongside starting center Jusuf Nurkic, who did not return to Bosnia at the weekend after the death of his grandmother.
The Blazers could finally start with rookie Wenyen Gabriel at power forward. Or, Portland could bring Carmelo Anthony back to that position, which he played for much of the season. That would then create the chance to start Gary Trent Jr at small forward.
A lineup of Damian Lillard, CJ McCollum, Trent, Anthony and Nurkic is without a doubt the best offensive lineup of the team.
The problem, however, is that the Blazers also have to play defense. Such a lineup would likely force Anthony to protect Lakers power ahead of Anthony Davis. Not a good matchup. Collins, at least, is a pesky defensive player.
Gabriel has appeared in three bubble games, playing a total of 33 minutes against Philadelphia, the Los Angeles Clippers and Memphis on Saturday. He scored six points with seven rebounds.
“Obviously it’s not ideal, it’s not what we want to see,” Lillard said of Collins’ loss, especially on the defensive end.
Lillard said he thinks Gabriel would buy many minutes from Collins at power forward.
“Just because the last time we played the Lakers, we were in a similar situation when Melo did not make the trip and (Gabriel) started that game,” Lillard said.
Gabriel, from Kentucky, fell in 13 minutes of action and produced zero points, one rebound and one blocked shot against the Lakers on Jan. 31.
“We don’t expect him to go out there and keep AD, if anyone is at zero points,” Lillard said. “We just want him to come in and give that effort and have a positive effect on the game.”
Game 1 is set for Tuesday at 6 p.m. Game 2 will be Thursday at 6 p.m.
– Aaron Fentress | [email protected] | @AaronJFentress (Twitter), @AaronJFentress (Instagram), @AaronFentress (Facebook).
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