Blazers Lose Joel Przybilla to Gruesome Knee Injury

Filed under: Trail Blazers, NBA Injuries

In the amount of time it takes a seven-footer to jump in the air and land in a crumpled heap on the floor, the Trail Blazers' playoff dreams may have went up in smoke -- or at the very least, sent GM Kevin Pritchard's cell phone into overdrive.

Joel Przybilla, thrust into Portland's starting lineup earlier this month after Greg Oden was lost for the year with a fractured kneecap, landed awkwardly while going for a rebound in the first quarter of Tuesday's game against the Mavericks.

Simply looking at his misshapen kneecap as he writhed in pain suggested a serious injury, and sure enough, not long after he was helped off the court and examined by doctors, the team confirmed he suffered a ruptured right patella tendon and dislocated patella. Officially, he's "sidelined indefinitely," which is merely a polite way of saying he's almost certainly done for the year. (Kevin Pelton and Will Carroll of Basketball Prospectus discuss the severity of the injury and how it compares unfavorably to Oden's injury.)

 

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Full story at http://nba.fanhouse.com/2009/12/23/blazers-lose-joel-przybilla-to-gruesome-knee-injury/