Portland coach Nate McMillan, not too far removed from his own playing days, knows that the club will have to deal with injuries for the remainder of the season.

McMillan says he played through a lot of pain during his career.

"Even as a player, I was able to go through a season and have surgery in the offseason. I've never been on crutches during the season," he told Beyond the Beat's Wendell Maxey.

"That's the main reason I retired, because you are taking things to relieve the pain. You are taking medication and painkillers to relieve your pain and I didn't want to do that anymore. It was just too painful to train and your days off, you couldn't do anything. I started taking a lot of things to relieve the pain and a lot of players do."

The Blazers, in addition to a number of other injuries, have lost Greg Oden for the season with a knee injury.