Let no one say Trail Blazers center Jusuf Nurkic is not completely dedicated to his team, even from the bench.
Nurkic, who has been sidelined since March with a broken leg, has been forced to watch from the side as his team has made its way to Game 7 of the Eastern Conference semifinals, staving off elimination Thursday with a 119-108 Game 6 win over the Nuggets.
Nurkic has done the best he can in the role of fan, supporting his teammates and pumping up the crowd. But during Game 6, he told Portland point guard Damian Lillard just how much he missed being on the court.
MORE: Blazers rally around Nurkic after locker room FaceTime
"Today was actually the first time that he said to me when I was sitting next to him on the bench, he said, ‘Man I wish I could play with my broken leg. I would go out there right now and get hurt again if I could,'" Lillard said during the postgame news conference. "And I was like, 'This dude is crazy.'"
“I wish I could play with my broken leg. I would go out there right now and get hurt again if I could.”
— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) May 10, 2019
Dame tells story of what Nurkic said to him on the bench during Game 6 pic.twitter.com/kJK1qKoPT7
This sort of dedication has even received appreciation from the other side of the court. Nurkic's former Nuggets teammate Nikola Jokic, unprompted, talked about how good it was to see Nurkic moving around on the bench.
VIDEO: Jokic, unprompted, talks about how great it is to see @bosnianbeast27 moving around well. #RipCity #MileHighBasketball pic.twitter.com/bkZaNyUO5I
— NBC Sports Northwest (@NBCSNorthwest) May 10, 2019
MORE: Takeaway from Blazers' Game 6 win
The Trail Blazers will try to make their way to the Eastern Conference finals with a win on Sunday in Denver, a game in which Nurkic almost certainly will not attend. But that won't stop him from supporting his team the only way he's able.
"All I can do is cheer for my teammates and just be who I am," Nurkic said, via NBC Sports.
