The Portland Trail Blazers will face another opponent with a depleted lineup.
Jrue Holiday and Shaedon Sharpe, who are both saddled with right calf strains, were downgraded from questionable to out in the Blazers’ most recent injury report ahead of Friday night’s game at the Golden State Warriors.
The Blazers’ starting backcourt joins Scoot Henderson (left hamstring tear), Matisse Thybulle (left thumb surgery), Blake Wesley (right foot fracture) and Damian Lillard (left Achilles tendon) on the inactive list.
Additionally, Robert Williams III (left knee injury management) is questionable and Jerami Grant (illness) is probable for the 7 p.m. visit to San Francisco.
The absences have left the Blazers’ rotation in tatters and forced interim coach Tiago Splitter to lean on a collection of two-way players and end-of-bench backups. In the Blazers’ last game — a heartbreaking 122-121 loss to the Chicago Bulls at the Moda Center — Sidy Cissoko started and Javonte Cooke made his NBA debut. One night earlier, when the Blazers fell 127-110 to the Phoenix Suns, Cissoko, Rayan Rupert, Caleb Love, Duop Reath and rookie Yang Hansen were part of the rotation.
The injuries have not only sapped the Blazers’ depth, but also undermined some of their identity, which was built around playing fast, playing hard, playing relentless defense and playing a lot of players in short spurts.
“It is not easy,” Splitter said Monday, when asked about preparing for games amid all the injuries. “Because everything that we planned from (the) preseason and how you want a team to play all of a sudden changes … You have different personnel right now.
“With so many guys out right now, we’ve got to also think, ‘OK, how can we develop some of these guys that didn’t have many minutes?’ For example, Hansen, Caleb Love and you go on down the list. Sidy. All of them are having minutes that … you’re playing in the NBA. So you’ve got to show why you are here and get better and develop. And we’ve got to coach them and (try) to have a good game.”
At the very least, the Blazers offered a good game against the Bulls on Wednesday, when they rallied from a 21-point fourth-quarter deficit to take the lead in the closing seconds. But good wasn’t enough that night, as Nikola Vucevic nailed a three-pointer at the buzzer to hand the Blazers a heartbreaking defeat.
The litany of injuries has derailed a season that started with so much promise and positive mojo. Since opening with five wins over the first eight games, which included impressive victories over reigning-champion Oklahoma City and Denver, the Blazers (6-9) have dropped seven of their last nine games.
And it doesn’t look like Portland’s roster will be anything close to whole anytime soon.
Holiday is scheduled to be reevaluated in one to two weeks, according to a late Friday afternoon release from the Blazers, meaning he could miss at least four or five more games.
What’s more, it looks like Henderson will miss at least two to four more weeks, according to the release. The third-year point guard suffered a torn left hamstring four days before the start of training camp, and the team initially said he would be sidelined between four and eight weeks.
General manager Joe Cronin softened those expectations at media day, however, saying Henderson’s rehabilitation could linger as long as 10 weeks because hamstring injuries are “tricky” and can be “stubborn.”
Sharpe, meanwhile, was originally listed as questionable Friday, leaving open the possibility he could return sooner than Holiday or Henderson. Sharpe underwent magnetic resonance imaging tests earlier this week.
Can the Blazers keep things afloat until they regain their health?
“We don’t got no choice,” Jerami Grant said Wednesday, when he battled through an illness, including nausea, to play 37 minutes.
