Reports: LaMarcus Aldridge To Return Thursday Vs. Atlanta
(AP Photo/Darren Abate)
LaMarcus Aldridge will make his return to the court tonight against the Atlanta Hawks, 15 days after taking a hard fall against the San Antonio Spurs on March 12.
Chris Haynes of CSNNW.com writes:
“I’m going,” Aldridge said after shootaround Thursday. “We’ll see how it goes, but I’m going.”
Aldridge went through a workout in Atlanta on Wednesday that consisted of a few big men to get him prepared for tonight. According to the three-time All-Star, they played some basketball and went up and down a little bit.
Running was one of the main obstacles preventing him from coming back sooner, saying it caused him serious discomfort. Though he’s still nowhere near 100 percent and “sore” when it comes to moving up and down the court, he’ll be in uniform.
Casey Holdahl of TrailBlazers.com reports on twitter:
Team said last night that @aldridge_12 would be a game time decision, but he just said he WILL play tonight vs. Hawks — @CHold
On Thursday morning the Portland Trail Blazers announced that Aldridge had been upgraded to probable for a return to the court against the Atlanta Hawks. Tip-off for that game will be at 4:30 on CSNNW.
Portland F LaMarcus Aldridge (low back contusion) upgraded to probable for tonight’s game at Atlanta. #RipCity — @TrailBlazersPR
Aldridge is Portland’s leading scorer averaging 23.4 points per game and also the team’s leading rebounder, averaging 11 per game.
As noted yesterday in the Trail Mix, the Blazers have struggled on the glass as of late and desperately need Aldridge’s rebounding back in the line-up. Over the last four games the Blazers rank 28th and 25th in defensive rebound rate (percentage of available rebounds grabbed while a team is on defense) and total rebound rate (the same thing but a calculation of both ends) respectively.
Erik Gundersen
Erik Gundersen is the Trail Blazers beat reporter for The Columbian. He's a graduate of the Allen School of Journalism and Communication at the University of Oregon in addition earning a degree in Spanish. He's covered the NBA for four seasons. You can also occasionally find his work on ESPN.com's NBA section for their TrueCities series. He also fist-bumped with Kanye West once. Follow @BlazerBanter on twitter for more Blazers and NBA news.