Practice Report: Aldridge to play Thursday, Crabbe back with team
Terry Stotts told media after Tuesday’s practice in Tualatin that two-time All-Star LaMarcus Aldridge would play in Portland’s final preseason game on Thursday against the Golden State Warriors. Aldridge has missed the last two preseason games with pain in his left knee and undergoing an MRI.
Stotts said that he hopes to have what looks like a regular season rotation on the court for Thursday.
“Yeah, I think we’re going to have a serious approach to the Golden State game,” he said. “It’s going to be the first game that we’ve had everybody available. I’d like to at least try to get a close resemblance to a rotation that we’ll use in the season.”
Aldridge is looking forward to the chance for the whole team to get one full tune-up together.
“I’m excited about it. I think we all need one game to go hard and get our game rhythms in,” he said.
He said that his knee is okay and that he needed to stretch it more.
Crabbe back with the team
Allen Crabbe had been dealing with what the team was calling gastroenteritis. He had not been with the team recently and wasn’t even at the Moda Center when they played their preseason game on Sunday. So, for the Blazers, it was a good sign to see him back even though he did not practice according to Stotts.
Stotts said that he anticipates to have everybody, with the only exception being rookie guard C.J. McCollum, to be able to play on Thursday.
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.