Batum tweaked his shoulder in the second quarter while playing defense on Ronnie Brewer and his shoulder was heavily bandaged after the game. Brewer made a sudden cut while he was running through the Jazz’ constantly-moving offense and ran directly into Batum’s shoulder.
With 8:38 left in the first half, Batum pulled himself from the game and walked directly toward the Blazers’ locker room to get evaluated by assistant athletic trainer Geoff Clark. He missed the rest of the first half but played eight minutes, 29 seconds after halftime, finishing with eight points.
After the game, Batum called his injury “no big deal,” and said he intended to play Thursday night against the San Antonio Spurs at the Rose Garden But Batum was annoyed at Brewer, saying the Jazz’ starting shooting guard went at his shoulder intentionally.
“I know he did it on purpose because he tries to get me every time,” Batum said. “Last game, he did the same.”