The Portland Trail Blazers dealt with injuries all season, and the the loss of their biggest star topped it off in the playoffs.While the year was unusual for all of sports because of coronavirus, the Trail Blazers made it to the NBA playoffs for the seventh straight season. Upstart Portland was knocked out of the first round by the top-seeded Los Angeles Lakers in five games. “It was an interesting season with a lot of different obstacles that we faced. We signed Hall of Famer (Carmelo Anthony), we had coronavirus hit, so many things going on around the world with social injustice, protesting, all those things," guard CJ McCollum said. "We had some games postponed, came back, more injuries. But all in all I think we fought and gave ourselves a chance."All-Star guard Damian Lillard had already departed the so-called bubble in Florida with a right knee injury when Portland took the floor for the elimination game Sunday night. While the Blazers mounted a scrappy effort against the Lakers,... [More]

The Los Angeles Lakers and Milwaukee Bucks have restored some sense of normalcy to these anything-but-normal NBA playoffs.The top-seeded teams in the Western and Eastern Conferences, respectively, lost their openers and are now looking to take control of their series. The Lakers could pull ahead of the Portland Trail Blazers on Saturday and the Bucks could take the lead on the pesky Orlando Magic.Lakers forward LeBron James has been around too long to get too worked up about one loss. He was confident the Lakers would recover from their Game 1 setback, and they looked much like their pre-pandemic selves in beating the Trail Blazers 111-88 on Thursday. “I know what we’re capable of,” he said. “I know how we’re built. I don’t compare us to anyone. I compare us to us.”The Lakers were fully aware of the challenge they would face against from the talented Blazers entering the series, led by All-Star guard Damian Lillard.“This team was in the conference finals last year,” Lakers coach Frank Vogel... [More]

LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. (AP) — CJ McCollum scored 33 points, teaming with Damian Lillard for 11 of Portland's 16 in overtime, and the Trail Blazers pulled out a desperately needed victory to resume their season by beating the Memphis Grizzlies 140-135 on Friday.Lillard finished with 29 points and nine assists as the Trail Blazers boosted their hopes for a seventh consecutive playoff appearance. Carmelo Anthony added 21 points as Portland moved within 2 1/2 games of the Grizzlies for the No. 8 spot in the Western Conference.“Everybody knew how important that game was," Blazers coach Terry Stotts said. “This is playoff basketball from us and we have that pressure and you can’t shy away from it.”McCollum started fast, scoring 19 points in the first half, and finished strong with two crucial 3-pointers in overtime. The first one to open the extra period gave Portland the lead for good, and he added six assists.Jaren Jackson Jr. had 33 points and rookie Ja Morant added 22 points and 11 assists... [More]

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — Grieving the death of a cousin and missing his mother, Damian Lillard struggled emotionally after the NBA shut down because of the coronavirus. But he also found inspiration in his activism for Black Lives Matter and his flourishing music career. The Trail Blazers were just out of the playoff picture, sitting ninth in the Western Conference standings on March 11 when the league was shuttered. The team will be among 22 that will depart next week for Orlando as part of the re-start. Portland will have eight games to secure a playoff berth, starting on July 31 with Memphis. “We don’t have time to ease our way in, we don't have time to try and figure stuff out, we’ve got to come in assertive and aggressive and just go after it,” he said. “And if we fail, we fail, but we gotta at least come out there with that mentality of we don’t have time to kind of ease into it.”Lillard welcomes the chance to resume playing after a difficult few months. He admittedly had no idea how... [More]

Portland guard Damian Lillard was in the gym a few days ago and took notice of what injured Trail Blazers big men Jusuf Nurkic and Zach Collins were doing during their individual workouts.That’s when he realized a bright side of the NBA’s coronavirus shutdown.The injured guys weren’t injured anymore.Plenty of aches and pains around the NBA have healed in the almost-four-month span since the league had to suspend its season because of the pandemic, which means the 22 teams that will be arriving at the Disney campus near Orlando, Florida next week should be coming in with mostly healthy rosters.Keeping players healthy once they get to Disney will be another challenge, as workloads ramp up quickly for the July 30 resumption of games — but, at least at the start of camps for the resumed season, rosters will be deeper than they were when the league shut down on March 11.“I hate to even use that term, like a ‘silver lining’ came out of this because this is something that nobody ever predicted,”... [More]

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — With a big night against Golden State, Damian Lillard signaled that he's asserting himself at a crucial point of the Trail Blazers' season. And where Lillard goes, the Blazers tend to follow. “There comes a time in the season where everybody's tired, everybody's worn out, everybody's physically and mentally drained," he said. "The players got to go out there and make their minds up, are we going to do this or not? And I think we're just, as a team, getting closer to that time. We've got to leave it all out there. We've got to go take it.”Lillard had a franchise-best 61 points — including 11 3-pointers — this week in Portland's 129-124 overtime victory over the Warriors.It was the most points for a player in the NBA this season, and it broke Lillard's own franchise record of 60 points set earlier this season against Brooklyn. Afterward, a flood of admirers ranging from reigning NBA Rookie of the Year Luka Doncic to Washington Redskins running back Adrian Peterson recognized... [More]

Once Russell Westbrook headed to Houston, the Oklahoma City Thunder were supposed to be headed toward a rebuild.The team Westbrook returns to face this week doesn’t look like a team headed for the lottery. It’s playing like one Westbrook might see again in the postseason.The Thunder welcome back their former point guard Thursday, with both doing just fine since going their separate ways last summer.That’s not a surprise for Westbrook, given that he was sent to join former MVP — and one-time Oklahoma City teammate — James Harden on a high-scoring contender. He has scored 20 or more points in 12 straight games, with three straight of at least 30 late last month, and averaged 27.8 in that span to raise his average to 24.1.He said his return would be emotional because of how much Oklahoma City and the organization meant to him, but he didn't want to detail much leading into it. “I don’t want to get that much into before the game and on and on, but after the game we can discuss whatever you... [More]

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — The Portland Trail Blazers have given forward Carmelo Anthony a fully guaranteed contract for the remainder of the season. The team had signed Anthony to a non-guaranteed contract last month and had until a January deadline to guarantee the deal. Anthony, who hadn't played for more than a year before he was formally signed on Nov. 19, has meshed well with the Blazers, averaging 16.9 points and 5.9 rebounds since joining the team. The 10-time NBA All-Star was named Western Conference Player of the Week after he averaged 22.3 points, 7.7 rebounds and 2.7 assists over Portland's three-game winning streak last week. Anthony, 35, played seven-plus seasons for the Nuggets before being traded in 2011 to the New York Knicks, where he spent six-plus seasons. He also has played one season each with Oklahoma City and Houston. The Rockets traded him to Chicago in January but the Bulls cut him before he played a game.Anthony filled an immediate need for the Blazers, who became short-handed at forward when Zach Collins injured his shoulder and required surgery that is expected to keep him out for at least four months. ___More AP NBA: https://apnews.com/NBA and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — The Portland Trail Blazers have waived center Pau Gasol but his career with the team may not be over.Gasol, who never played in a game with the Blazers, announced on social media Wednesday that the team had released him. In a video he posted, Gasol said he is still recovering from surgery on his left foot in May.“I underwent surgery in hopes that it would expedite my return, but unfortunately in the last few days we have assessed that my recovery is going to take longer than we had originally hoped for,” he said.Gasol said he plans to remain in Portland to continue his rehabilitation, and he is discussing a new role with the Trail Blazers.“I have the same excitement and passion for the game of basketball that I had when I first started playing, and I will work as hard as I can on my recovery with a clear goal in mind: To get healthy in order to continue to play the game that I love,” Gasol said.Gasol signed with the Blazers in the offseason as a free agent.He played... [More]

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — Carmelo Anthony is now with the Portland Trail Blazers and starting over with jersey No. 00.Word that the 10-time All-Star had joined the team broke Thursday night, but the agreement was not formalized until Tuesday when he signed a nonguaranteed contract that goes through January. If he stays, the contract becomes guaranteed for the rest of the season.Anthony was in the starting lineup for the Trail Blazers on Tuesday night in New Orleans.Anthony hasn’t played since a 10-game stint with the Houston Rockets ended a little more than a year ago. But the Blazers hope there is enough game left in the 35-year-old forward to help them overcome a 5-9 start.“Carmelo is an established star in this league that will provide a respected presence in our locker room and a skill set at a position of need on the floor,” Neil Olshey, Portland’s president of basketball operations, said in a statement.Anthony struggled at the end of his recent stops in Oklahoma City and Houston following... [More]

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — Carmelo Anthony is now with the Portland Trail Blazers and starting over with jersey No. 00.Word that the 10-time All-Star had joined the team broke Thursday night, but the agreement was not formalized until Tuesday when he signed a nonguaranteed contract that goes through January. If he stays, the contract becomes guaranteed for the rest of the season.It was not immediately clear when he would start practicing or playing with the team. Portland was at New Orleans on Tuesday night.Anthony hasn’t played since a 10-game stint with the Houston Rockets ended a little more than a year ago. But the Blazers hope there is enough game left in the 35-year-old forward to help them overcome a 5-9 start.“Carmelo is an established star in this league that will provide a respected presence in our locker room and a skill set at a position of need on the floor,” Neil Olshey, Portland’s president of basketball operations, said in a statement.Anthony struggled at the end of his recent... [More]

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — Carmelo Anthony is now set with the Portland Trail Blazers and starting over with jersey No. 00.Word that the 10-time All-Star had joined the team broke Thursday night, but the agreement was not formalized until Tuesday when he signed a nonguaranteed contract that goes through January. If he stays, the contract becomes guaranteed for the rest of the season.It was not immediately clear when he would start practicing or playing with the team. Portland was at New Orleans on Tuesday night.Anthony hasn’t played since a 10-game stint with the Houston Rockets ended a little more than a year ago. But the Blazers hope there is enough game left in the 35-year-old forward to help them overcome a 5-9 start.“Carmelo is an established star in this league that will provide a respected presence in our locker room and a skill set at a position of need on the floor,” Neil Olshey, Portland’s president of basketball operations, said in a statement.Anthony struggled at the end of his recent... [More]

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — Carmelo Anthony is now set with the Portland Trail Blazers and starting over with jersey No. 00.Word that the 10-time All-Star had joined the team broke Thursday night, but the agreement was not formalized until Tuesday when he signed a nonguaranteed contract that goes through January. If he stays, the contract becomes guaranteed for the rest of the season.It was not immediately clear when he would start practicing or playing with the team. Portland plays at New Orleans on Tuesday night.Anthony hasn’t played since a 10-game stint with the Houston Rockets ended a little more than a year ago. But the Blazers hope there is enough game left in the 35-year-old forward to help them overcome a 5-9 start.“Carmelo is an established star in this league that will provide a respected presence in our locker room and a skill set at a position of need on the floor,” Neil Olshey, Portland’s president of basketball operations, said in a statement.Anthony but struggled at the end of... [More]

Carmelo Anthony is getting another shot in the NBA.The 10-time All-Star is returning to the league with the Portland Trail Blazers, a person with knowledge of the details said Thursday.Anthony hasn’t played since a short stint with the Houston Rockets ended a little more than a year ago after just 10 games. But the Blazers hope there is still enough game left in the 35-year-old forward to help them overcome a 4-8 start.Anthony’s deal with Portland was confirmed to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because it has not been announced. It was first reported by ESPN.com, which said that Anthony would join the team on its upcoming road trip.Anthony is a three-time Olympic gold medalist but struggled at the end of his recent stops in Oklahoma City and Houston following 6 ½ seasons in New York. He continued to work out with NBA players, and his many friends and supporters insisted he was still good enough to play in the league.Now he will get a chance to prove it.“It’s about damn time!!”... [More]

A person familiar with the details says Carmelo Anthony is returning to the NBA with the Portland Trail Blazers.The 10-time All-Star hasn’t played since a short stint with the Houston Rockets ended a little more than a year ago after just 10 games. But the Blazers hope there is still enough game left in the 35-year-old forward to help them overcome a 4-8 start.Anthony’s deal with Portland was confirmed to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity Thursday because it has not been announced. It was first reported by ESPN.com, which said that Anthony would join the team on its upcoming road trip.Anthony is a three-time Olympic gold medalist but has struggled at the end of his recent stops in Oklahoma City and Houston following 6 ½ seasons in New York.Anthony was acquired by the Chicago Bulls from Houston on Jan. 21, with the intention of trading him before the deadline or letting him go. He averaged 13.4 points in 10 games with the Rockets last season, but hasn’t played since November... [More]

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — Portland Trail Blazers forward Zach Collins has undergone a shoulder surgery that will sideline him for at least four months.The team said Collins had successful surgery Tuesday to repair his left labrum.A 7-footer in his third season with Portland, Collins dislocated his shoulder in a game against Dallas on Oct. 27. He was averaging 9 points, 4 rebounds and 2 assists in the first three games of the season.The No. 10 overall pick in the 2017 NBA draft out of Gonzaga, Collins has averaged 5.7 points and 3.8 rebounds in 156 games with Portland.___More AP NBA: https://apnews.com/NBA and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports

Anthony Davis and the Los Angeles Lakers did not get out of China unscathed.Davis will have tests Sunday to determine the full severity of a right thumb injury, which the Lakers have initially diagnosed as a sprain. He got hurt in the first quarter of the Lakers' 91-77 loss to the Brooklyn Nets on Saturday at Shenzhen in the finale of the NBA China Games series.Caris LeVert scored 22 points on 8 for 11 shooting for Brooklyn, which swept the two matchups between the clubs in China. Taurean Prince scored 14 for Brooklyn, and DeAndre Jordan grabbed 11 rebounds in 19 minutes.Avery Bradley led the Lakers with 14 points. Kentavious Caldwell-Pope scored 11.The encouraging sign for the Lakers is that Davis — who has a history of being plagued by injuries throughout his career — continued to play for a few minutes after getting hurt while attempting to block a shot. He and LeBron James both shot 2 for 7 and scored six points apiece for the Lakers; James, like Davis, played the entire first quarter... [More]

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — Pau Gasol is already having an impact in Portland without even taking the court: The 7-foot Spaniard has become something of a mentor for the younger Trail Blazers.What a mentor to have.He’s a six-time All Star and one of just four players with over 20,000 points, 11,000 rebounds, 3,500 assists and 1,500 blocks in his career, along with Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Tim Duncan and Kevin Garnett. He’s got a pair of NBA championship rings from a stint with the Lakers.About to embark on his 19th NBA season, Gasol is hoping for a fresh start with the Blazers. He came to Portland as a free agent in the offseason but he’s been limited at the start of training camp as he makes his way back from surgery to repair a stress fracture in his left foot.Gasol played just three games for the Milwaukee Bucks last season before the surgery. The Bucks signed him in March after he reached a buyout agreement with the San Antonio Spurs. In total, he played in just 30 games last season, averaging... [More]

Denver and Toronto started this second round of the playoffs feeling great about their chances.And then things went bad.And then they bounced back.So now, going into a pair of big-time swing games on Tuesday night — Denver plays host to Portland, Toronto plays host to Philadelphia — the Nuggets and Raptors can either take a firm grip on their respective series or get themselves into pits of trouble that would be even deeper than the ones they were in a couple of days ago.Game 5s await. Blazers-Nuggets, tied 2-2. 76ers-Raptors, tied 2-2. Toronto and Denver both reclaimed home-court advantage with series-tying road wins on Sunday, and the task now is to keep that momentum going with very high stakes."You win a game, and you've got to play another one," Raptors coach Nick Nurse said Monday. "To borrow a phrase that everybody uses, this is a grind. These things are grinders, and being even-keeled, professional, hard-working, tough mentality is what it needs on each game and each possession,... [More]

DENVER (AP) — Nose bloodied, Torrey Craig returned wearing a clear mask.Knocked down later, his Denver Nuggets teammates rushed to his defense.There's no masking the appreciation the Nuggets have for their defensive specialist. Bloodied and bruised, Craig contributed seven points in a 97-90 loss to Portland on Wednesday night as the Trail Blazers tied the Western Conference semifinal series at a game apiece."He fights. He's a fighter," Nuggets forward Paul Millsap said. "Hate to see something like that happen, but for him to come back and be inspiring like he did, it was unbelievable."Craig was going for a rebound early in the second quarter when he appeared to bounce off Blazers forward Zach Collins and fall into the leg of Denver teammate Monte Morris. Craig remained down on the court for several moments as trainers came out to treat him. There was blood on the court when he left the floor.Craig was taken to the locker room with a towel covering his face. The Nuggets said he had a nasal... [More]