Portland Trail Blazers superstar Damian Lillard will indeed be in the lineup as Portland takes on the Los Angeles Lakers in Game 3 despite suffering a dislocated left index finger in Game 2, according to ESPN’s Tim Botemps.
Trail Blazers’ head coach Terry Stotts confirmed Lillard’s status on Friday saying — “He’s getting treatments today,” Stotts said. “Multiple treatments throughout the day.
“I believe he’ll be wearing a splint, but he will play.”
Lillard suffered the injury when he hit his finger on the show of Los Angeles Lakers big man Anthony Davis during the third quarter, which sidelined him for the entire fourth quarter of a game that that Lakers won in convincing fashion.
“I didn’t know what happened,” Lillard said. “I just know I reached from behind and, I didn’t know if it was his leg or his foot or if I just pushed my hand into his back or what, but I felt it right away. And when I felt it, I didn’t even want to look at it. But I looked, and it was off, and I immediately started trying to pull it back [in place]. … I got it to go back a little bit, but it was still out, and when I went to the back, they had to pull it back.”
Now the series is tied a 1 game a piece.
“Oh, I’m playing,” Lillard said.
“Honestly, it’s kind of what we expect,” Stotts said. “I totally anticipated, unless it was a broken finger, and even then … Dame has played through a lot of injuries.
“And this being the playoffs, I don’t think it surprised anybody. But certainly it sets the tone for the rest of the team.”
