PORTLAND -- With Jusuf Nurkic sitting out Saturday’s game as a precaution, Trail Blazers assistant coach Jon Yim challenged his backup, Enes Kanter, to go above and beyond in order to make up for the absence.
“This morning I had a conversation with Coach Yim and he said ‘You better get 20-20 tonight,’ recounted Kanter. “It started this morning, he was giving me a lot of advice. He said ‘Hey, listen, Nurk is out so you just have to play extra hard, go out there and do what you do best, get every rebound.’”
Kanter might not have grabbed every rebound, but he came as close to it as any Trail Blazer ever while easily surpassing Yim’s request for both 20 points and 20 rebounds.