This is Jusuf Nurkic’s first “real” NBA game since he did unmentionable things to his leg near the end of the 2018-19 season. What better way for him to return to the league and make his presence felt than by putting up the Nurkician statline of 18/9/5/2/6? Meanwhile, the forgotten man Hassan Whiteside, who was acquired by the Blazers solely to be a holdover until Nurkic returned, probably put up a lame statline of 12/12/0/0/3 (with eighteen more attempted blocks that left him way out of position defensively). I could look at the boxscore to verify those numbers since I have it right up here, but I’m not going to. Forget about Whiteside. It’s all about Nurkic now.
If the Blazers are gonna grab that coveted eighth seed in the West, they’re gonna need this Nurkic in every game from here on out. You can live with his fouls and his erratic shot selection if you get the passing, the defense, and the Bosnian big-boy bucket-getting ability. The big three of Lillard, McCollum, and Nurkic (“McNurkard”) is finally reunited and I don’t want it to end after just eight games of bubbleball.
You wanna talk about Nurk Fever? I’ve got Tunurkulosis!