Enes Kanter isn't on the Portland Trail Blazers' injury report ahead of Game 2 against the Denver Nuggets on Wednesday night, but that doesn't mean he isn't in pain.
Kanter suffered a left shoulder injury in Game 5 of the Blazers' first-round series against the Oklahoma City Thunder.
He played 33 minutes in Portland's Game 1 loss to the Nuggets on Monday night, finishing with 26 points and seven rebounds. All things considered, he looked just fine.
“I don’t have another choice,” Kanter said. “I don’t even try to think about my shoulder. It’s the playoffs. Just got to go out there and play hard and play smart.
“Pain killers, injections, anything I can do to help my teammates. Doesn’t matter.
"One arm, two arms, I’m going to go out there and help my teammates win.”
Kanter showed that disregard for his injury and all-in attitude midway through the first quarter, when he punched home a two-handed jam but immediately regretted it, grabbing his left shoulder on the way down.
“I told him to just dunk it with his right hand, rather than put two on it,” his teammate Meyers Leonard said after the game.
“Enes was terrific,” Blazers coach Terry Stotts said. “He was very efficient, finished around the basket, playing through the shoulder injury.
"I couldn’t have asked for any more from him.”
While Kanter gave Portland his all offensively, it was on the other end of the floor where he and the team struggled in Game 1. Nikola Jokic was a handful for the Blazers, scoring 37 points and pulling down nine boards.
If the Blazers have any hopes of getting a split in Denver, it's going to start and end with how Kanter can contain Jokic defensive.
