12:02 am | March 26, 2019 | Go to Source | Author:
3:52 AM ET
PORTLAND, Ore. — Portland Trail Blazers center Jusuf Nurkic suffered compound fractures to the tibia and fibula of his lower left leg in a double-overtime win against the Brooklyn Nets on Monday night and will be out indefinitely.
Nurkic was jumping for a rebound and came down awkwardly in a tangle of bodies under the basket. After hitting the floor, the Nets players around him saw the severity of the injury and sprinted away.
The arena quickly went into a hush as Blazers medical personnel rushed to Nurkic. A stretcher was immediately called, and with the help of a few Blazers — Damian Lillard, Rodney Hood and Al-Farouq Aminu — the 7-foot Bosnian was loaded onto it.
“It made me sick to my stomach,” Lillard said. “I think he tried to tip it in, he crashed the glass and I saw him hit the ground and roll over real quick, and I thought maybe he got hit in the face or something again. As I was walking over there, I saw everybody else turn around real quick and walk away, and then I looked and saw his leg — and you just hate to see that happen to him.”