A Big Blow for Portland: Damian Lillard OUT for Game 5 Due to Sprained Right Knee

The Portland Trail Blazers had to face difficulties for them to get a playoff slot during the seeding games inside the house of Mickey Mouse. And they did all thanks to Damian Lillard who was named the Player of the Seeding Games.

Portland even took Game One of the best-of-seven first-round series  in the 2020 National Basketball Association (NBA) playoffs against the Los Angeles Lakers that made many people think that the Trail Blazers could actually take down LeBron James and company through a clean sweep of their first-round slugfest. Unfortunately, the Lakers have been on a three-game winning streak since then that was highlighted by a 135-115 Game Four demolition that gave the Lakers a 3-1 series heading into tomorrow's Game Five. However, getting themselves back from a 3-1 series deficit will be a more daunting task for Portland as Damian Lillard will not play tomorrow's Game Five.

In the third quarter of Game Four when Portland was already on a verge of getting blown out, Damian Lillard left the court. He later checked himself back into the game but left the game for good a few minutes and headed straight to the locker room. For good. The reason: Damian Lillard sustained a sprained right knee.

Today, it has been officially confirmed through magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) that Lillard has a sprain in his right knee which will make him miss Game Five- possibly making Game Four as his final appearance this season. This wasn't the first injury Lillard dealt with in this series against the Lakers as he also dislocated his index finger in Game Two while CJ McCollum has been dealing with a fracture in his back.

Lillard had a terrific start in the series by torching the Lakers with 34 points in the opener. He followed that up with an 18-point performance in Game Two while erupting for 34 points again in Game Three. Game Four saw Lillard's worst outing in this series with 11 points on three for nine field goal shooting. During the seeding games, Lillard was averaging 37 points but in this series against the Lakers, those numbers went down to 24 points per game. With him out, Portland needs someone to pick up the slack and not rely on McCollum alone. 

Photo is from CBS Sports